Maths

Intent

At Easton Primary School all of our learners experience a maths curriculum that is based on the shared belief that mathematical learning should be carefully scaffolded so that knowledge and skills are transferable from concept to concept. 

Our mathematics curriculum design is based on the 5 ‘Big Ideas’ of mastery in mathematics (NCETM) and enables pupils to understand and draw on the knowledge, concepts and procedures they have already learnt, and apply these to where they are now in their learning, as well as in the next stage of their education. 

Every year group has key end of year expectations based on the statements from the 2014 National Curriculum for Mathematics which teachers share with pupils and parents to ensure that pupils get the maximum support possible as well as being able to take ownership of their progress. 

Teachers will skillfully use approaches and learning theories when designing lessons based on specific pedagogy required to fully grasp a concept and achieve a learning objective through use of the 5 ‘Big Ideas’. 

To begin, ‘Representations’ will be used as part of the CPA approach (Concrete, Visual & Abstract) to ensure pupils can see what mathematical structure is being exposed within the lesson’s explicit teaching. In addition, ‘Mathematical Reasoning’ is developed through questioning and enquiry of concepts to embed mastery. Rapid recall of number facts is a crucial part of the design to ensure ‘Fluency’ so that pupils are able to confidently approach problem solving but also have fluency in problem solving methods and strategies. It is expected therefore that pupils will receive a ‘Variation’ of representations, problems and approaches within concepts to see and manipulate the skills and knowledge being taught efficiently and confidently. In order to bring these ‘Big Ideas’ together, pupils will apply their learning whilst on a scaffolded journey, step-by-step, which we call a Maths Mission. The intention of this is to allow pupils to demonstrate their understanding and see purposeful application of mathematics through ‘Coherence’ of concepts. 

The development of the Maths Mission came from the need to reduce Cognitive Load for our pupils whilst approaching difficult to grasp concepts as it allows learning to be transferred from day to day over a period of time to fully embed knowledge and skills. In addition to this, we use social constructivist approaches to support the higher percentage of girls who learn through low threat, oracy driven exploration of mathematics. Our teachers use the Learning Pit as a metacognition tool to allow pupils to feel able to challenge themselves and verbalise when they need support.

Teachers will use the National Curriculum objectives and strategic evaluation of cohort data analysis to plan Maths Missions in order to drive progress and attainment for our pupils in every strand of mathematics. 

Implementation

At Easton Primary School, we use a Chris Quigley approach to mathematics whereby teachers skilfully plan a Maths Mission which embeds core concepts from the mathematics curriculum into a long-term mission for the children to complete, allowing them to demonstrate the mastery of the new knowledge and skills gained over the course of the topic. Maths missions are often made cross-curricular to further embed mathematics in real life contexts.

Pupils learn to be confident mathematicians who can reason, apply their knowledge and persevere in maths challenges to reach the solution. Pupils use concrete and practical resources wherever possible and are challenged to move into the abstract from varied fluency of concepts following daily formative teacher assessment of progress and attainment.

Further to this, teachers plan for continuous provision of maths in the classroom which is changed depending on the needs of the cohort and accessed at all intervals of the day. Teachers use The Power of Maths and White Rose frameworks, the Ready to Progress document with exemplification materials from NCETM to support the learning of pupils in our school during the Maths Missions.

Areas of the Mathematical Curriculum

The key concepts which will be taught throughout the mathematics curriculum will be Number, Measurement, Geometry, Statistics, Ratio and Proportion and Algebra. Within these areas, pupils will also receive teaching on the concepts of Place Value, Methods of Number, Fractions and Shape. 

How do we learn our times tables?

Each year group has a particular expectation when it comes to the Times Tables (see Year Group Expectations) at Easton we believe that a child should not only be able to recall the multiplication facts but also the division facts for that particular times table. Children embed these number facts at home using Times Table Rockstars which is a fantastic online resource for children and parents! Children are tasked to beat their previous scores to show progress each term.