Intent:

Ambitious curriculum

The 2014 National Curriculum for Mathematics aims to ensure that all children:

• Become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics
• Can reason mathematically
• Can solve problems by applying their mathematics

Our mathematics curriculum covers all expectations of the National Curriculum by offering a range of different activities to support the children’s learning and development in Mathematics. These include opportunities for practical problem solving, the use of concrete resources or manipulatives and drawing explicit links to other subject areas.

High quality learning

At Pyrcroft Grange we use White Rose Maths from Reception through to year 6 to ensure a high-quality curriculum is consistently available for all children and is one which continues to build on prior learning. Our Nursery setting makes strong links to the White Rose scheme through the use of Early Years Classroom. These schemes allow teachers to develop their own pedagogy and understanding of mastery through quality CPD materials. This and the consistency of provision across key stages means that children confidently use appropriate mathematical vocabulary and use well-structured stem sentences to underpin their understanding. We aim to remove barriers to learning through sensitive assessment and differentiation of learning to ensure children make appropriate progress from their own starting point.

Dream, Believe, Work, Achieve

Children understand that we are all mathematicians and that they can all achieve success in the subject. They are resilient learners who are happy to take risks with their learning and develop a can-do attitude for maths, knowing that mistakes can be a learning opportunity to strengthen and embed their understanding or to challenge their misconceptions. We want all children to experience success so that they continue to have an innate desire to challenge themselves through questioning and a genuine curiosity for the subject.

Knowledge led curriculum

While we want the children to have a secure factual knowledge and to be able to recall mathematical facts with ease and fluency, we also want the children to be able to reason mathematically and be able to apply their skills not only to a range of problems but also to other subject areas including Science, History and Geography.

Positive role models in wider society

As the children develop a love for Mathematics, they will begin to see beyond the processes and appreciate the importance of Maths in everyday life and understand the power of Mathematics in the world around them. They will also grow to be positive role models by developing a genuine love of the subject and helping to dispel the fear of Mathematics sometimes held by others.

Implementation:

The content and principles underpinning the 2014 Mathematics curriculum and the use of the White Rose Maths scheme of learning help to ensure a consistent provision across the school. The principles and features of these are implemented as follows:

• Teachers reinforce the expectation that all children can achieve high standards in mathematics, and this may include the use of interventions to enable children to access the curriculum such as pre-teach or keep up sessions
• In Nursery, the children are exposed to maths in the continuous provision provided on a daily basis, however, they also have a mathematical focus which is taught directly and supported with activities
• In Reception, children continue their mathematical journey with a range of activities and songs throughout their daily continuous provision which allows them to develop their mathematical skills but again have more structured lessons and activities which will have a focus on a particular concept which are then part of focused or teacher led activities
• Mathematics is taught using a primarily linear curriculum but one which revisits concepts in context. Most children progress through the curriculum broadly at the same pace. However, where necessary differentiation is achieved by emphasising deep subject knowledge, individual support within lessons or bespoke same day interventions. A new concept may be introduced by revisiting prior learning to ensure learning builds on strong foundations
• Each lesson is designed so that all learners can achieve the expected standard of understanding through a series of small steps and modelled practice but there are opportunities to challenge and broaden their learning with rich and sophisticated problems or investigative tasks
• Teachers use thought provoking activities to reinforce fluency, new skills or to reignite prior learning encouraging the children to remember more
• Children are encouraged to see how different mathematical operations or concepts may be linked and how the development of transferrable skills is of high importance
• Teachers use precise questioning to ensure there is a depth to the children’s understanding and to expose possible misconceptions
• Where appropriate, all children regardless of age or are introduced to a concept through the use of concrete resources before moving pictorial or abstract representations. This allows the exposure of the mathematical structures
• Children often practise questions initially guided by the teacher before attempting to answer questions independently enabling them to develop their fluency or application skills.

Impact:

Our supportive ethos and our approaches to Mathematics scaffold all children as they develop their collaborative and independent skills as well as encouraging empathy and celebration of the achievement of others. Children can underperform in Maths because of a historical preconception that they are not natural mathematicians or that they are simply ‘no good at maths’. Our curriculum challenges these preconceptions by ensuring that all children experience success and challenge in Maths and children approach tasks with a growth mindset. Our approach to interventions helps to assign competence to our less confident learners by exposing them to new concepts or vocabulary prior to a lesson. We have found that such interventions allow many children to access the learning at the same level as their peers. The consistency of our curriculum, our own mathematical knowledge as teachers and our high expectations of learners ensures a high standard of teaching with achievement at the end of KS2 above the national average with a high proportion of students demonstrating greater depth understanding by the end of Year 6.