Maths

Our Maths Lead is Mr Ryan Chidler

Our ambitious, engaging Maths curriculum develops secure building blocks for the development of mathematical understanding, reasoning and problem solving. Our children develop skills in fluency, mathematical reasoning and problem solving, through well taught, progressive small steps. Children will continuously reflect and build upon previous learning, both within and between year groups. We aim for all children have a positive attitude towards Maths and that they are engaged and motivated regardless of their attainment level.

Children will be taught the National Curriculum objectives for their year group. Maths at Abbotskerswell Primary School is taught with a mastery approach where children will learn a variety of methods and representations to help them tackle challenging, mathematical questions. Children take part in daily maths lessons which are planned to meet the needs of every child using scaffolds, support and further challenge where needed. For the 2023-24 academic year we have additional teaching staff to enable us to teach Maths in smaller group sizes across Key Stage 2. An additional teacher also provides 'booster' sessions for targeted children in Year 5 and 6. This allows us to really focus in on each child's individual needs.

Our teachers use White Rose Maths to support their planning. At the start of each unit children complete an 'Elicitation Task' to assess their initial knowledge and understanding. Teachers assessments of the Elicitation Task then informs their planning which is often adapted as a result of this. At the end of a unit children complete an 'Outcome Task', the same set of questions as their Elicitation but used to measure progress and identify and outstanding gaps in knowledge or understanding that can be addressed going forward. Ongoing formative assessment is used to enable next steps to be planned for within and between units.

Children will use concrete resources to explore new ideas and develop fluency in different areas. They will then use what they have learnt to solve problems and improve their understanding. Within our Maths curriculum mistakes are seen as key in supporting and developing the children's learning. Children reflect on their mistakes using 'Purple Pen'. This doesn't always involve correcting answers but often developing their answers further showing greater understanding through deeper explanations. A range of varied tasks and challenges are presented to pupils over the course of a lesson (or short series of lessons) and these challenges will include varied fluency/procedural tasks and problem solving/reasoning style challenges. All pupils of all ages and abilities should have access to this range of challenges. Our school Calculation Policy as seen below ensures consistency is maintained across the school with useful tools such as ‘part-whole models’ and ‘bar-models’ etc. becoming increasingly familiar to pupils as they progress through the school.

As seen in our yearly overviews below, children will start the year by revising number and place value skills before moving on to extending their knowledge of different calculations. Throughout the academic year, children develop their understanding of fractions, measurement, geometry, and statistics and in Year 6 algebra and ratio too. Some topics will also be embedded through other curriculum areas, for example weighing and measuring mass and capacity in Design & Technology, measuring time in PE and Science, measuring temperature in Geography and Science and data handling in Computing.

Our classrooms are Maths rich environments with working walls displayed relevant to the current topic being taught. All classrooms are well equipped with Maths resources to support children's Maths learning. Larger scale resources are also available in school to support adults modelling methods and representations to pupils. Our EYFS classroom and outdoor provision are also well equipped with plenty of resources that we see children using in their Maths lessons and own learning time.

We recognise that Quality First Teaching has the biggest impact of pupil progress and know that it will enable all pupils to maths progress. Pre-teaching is used to give targeted children additional time to process new content in advance of the lesson. Teacher assessment within lessons may also identify children requiring additional support in the form of a 'post teach'. For some children additional evidence based interventions are delivered on a 1:1 or small group basis, these interventions are recorded within class provision maps and monitored by the subject leader and school SENDCo. Quality First Teaching is enhanced through high quality CPD and supportive subject leadership and monitoring.

We encourage parents to practice key mathematical skills at home, such as weighing, telling the time, and learning multiplication tables. Maths Home Learning is set in Key Stage 2 using online platforms such as MyMaths and Times Tables Rock Stars, this consolidates, revises and builds on objectives taught in class.

We are immensely proud of out Maths results where we see a very high proportion of children achieving or exceeding their end of year expectations. We find our children are ready to progress to the next stage of their Maths learning by the end of the year and speak. Children at Abbotskerswell speak positively about their Maths learning, they are resilient and have a can-do attitude which we see as essential traits to being a successful mathematician.

See Maths in Action

COME BACK SOON TO SEE AMAZING MATHS WORK FROM CHILDREN ACROSS THE SCHOOL!

Schemes of Work

At Abbotskerswell Primary School, we currently follow the White Rose Maths Planning from Year 1 through to Year 6. Early Years use Number Blocks as their Maths Curriculum driver enhanced with resources from NCETM. The Early Years curriculum ensures children are fully prepared to begin the Year 1 curriculum. An overview of these can be found in our useful documents.

Calculation Policy

Our calculation policy sets out how children learn to add, subtract, multiply and divide in each year group:

Intent Statement

Maths

See Maths in Action

Schemes of Work

Calculation Policy

Intent Statement

Year Group Objectives

Year Group End Points

Progression Maps

Maths Progression Grid