Maths

Intent
All children will gain the opportunity to progress and achieve highly.
Children will leave our school:
• Fluent in the language of mathematics. Due to the context of our pupil base, the development of confident and secure verbal reasoning and explanation skills, using mathematical vocabulary precisely, is the solid foundation on which to build the successful outcome that all children can leave our school ready for secondary mathematics and a prosperous, ambitious life ahead;
• They will know and use the connections between concepts, gaining a depth of understanding in how the foundations of number relationships evolve into more complex reasoning concepts;
• Secure in their understanding of the number system. They will demonstrate efficiency in their mental and written calculation methods, and discipline in their accuracy and care with arithmetic;
• Able to apply their skills and understanding to real-life situations and contexts, preparing them for life ahead;
• Confident and resilient to face challenges, persevere and explore different strategies, and approach mathematical problem solving with an investigative curiosity.
 
 
Implementation
 
All children will be guided towards the mastery of mathematics.
 
Teaching and learning will prioritise:
• The development of strong verbal reasoning and explanation skills for all pupils using the vocabulary and wider language of mathematics precisely. Consistent use of sentence stems throughout school allow all children to build clarity, coherence and precision with their use of English to predict, prove, disprove and explain mathematical ideas;
• A coherent, effective sequence of learning which promotes progression through depth of understanding and prioritises curriculum objectives that ensure all children are appropriately challenged and supported in their learning;
• The quick and effective identification of potential barriers to learning and gaps in understanding for new arrivals, informing individualised support and teaching strategies to enable these children to progress efficiently towards age-related expectations;
• A prominent focus on reasoning and fluency that relates learning to real-life contexts and makes clear the connections between different areas of conceptual understanding, and between arithmetic, mathematical reasoning and problem solving;
• A consistent concrete, pictorial, abstract progression of skills and understanding in each concept throughout school. Children will build solid foundations to their learning by manipulating familiar physical resources, progressing smoothly to using efficient pictorial representations that are consistent throughout their journey through school (such as the bar model) before demonstrating their secure understanding with abstract representations of mathematics;
• The promotion of independent discipline, focus and mathematical confidence through Arithmetic Friday each week;
• Learning structures that are guided by, but not rigidly adhered to, the White Rose Teaching for Mastery strategy.
 
 
Impact
 
All children succeed with mathematics.
• Children enjoy their mathematics learning, are motivated to succeed, persevere and become confident mathematicians;
• Individualised support for all pupils ensures that progress in mathematics is consistently within the highest quintile of schools nationally;
• Children express mathematics verbally with confidence, coherence and precision;
• Teachers effectively identify and address barriers to learning and understanding gaps so that almost all children, regardless of background or prior attainment, reach the end of Key Stage 2 attaining at age-related expectations: they are ready for Key Stage 3 having built a solid foundation in mathematics with which to reach for their star in life ahead;
• Children have a strong opportunity to end Key Stage 2 with greater depth attainment in mathematics;
• Children take a pride in their achievements and their learning; they set out their methods clearly and precisely, using effective written and pictorial methods.