Maths

What do our children learn in Maths in each year group?  Curriculum Plan:
Other helpful information:

Maths Magic at Southridge!

Pleasure and enjoyment through challenge, a sense of purpose, and a sense of achievement can be found in maths at our school.

Aims of teaching Maths

The national curriculum for maths aims to ensure that all children:

  • become fluent in the fundamentals of maths, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that children develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.
  • reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language
  • can solve problems by applying their maths to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.

At Southridge, we aim to inspire all children to reach their full academic potential, to promote a positive attitude and to view maths as an interesting and attractive subject in which children have an expectation of success. We aim to develop in children the ability to think clearly and reason logically in maths, with confidence and independence of thought. The children should become fluent in the fundamentals of maths by learning number facts by heart and by being taught to develop a range of mental strategies for using known facts.

This means that our curriculum is fully inclusive of all children and it

  • Develops children’s knowledge and understanding of mathematical concepts whilst enabling them to practise and consolidate skills and methods;
  • Enables them to think critically and communicate their understanding;
  • Gives them opportunities to apply learnt mathematical skills in different contexts across the curriculum.
  • Provides opportunities to develop problem solving skills useful for maths and across the curriculum.

We also aim to develop an awareness of maths in the world beyond the classroom and give the children the opportunity to apply their skills to problems taken from their everyday lives. We want our children to

  • Be prepared for applying their skills effectively in everyday life situations, in their future learning and in the work place.
  • Have the building blocks in place to provide a solid foundation to lead onto middle, secondary, further and higher education.

Children should be able to read, write and talk maths. Through all our maths experiences and activities our children should

  • Be exposed to enthusiasm for, and enjoyment of, maths.
  • Be at ease with numbers and appreciate the power of using them, mentally and in written form.
  • Experience a variety of activities that develop mathematical skills and understanding.
  • Relate their work to the rest of the curriculum where appropriate.
  • Be able to apply learned mathematical skills in practical situations.

 At Southridge, we use a variety of teaching and learning styles in Maths lessons.

  • The school maths curriculum is based on the Programmes of Study from the National Curriculum 2014 – see maths curriculum plan

Agreed common strategies are used to teach particular operations and processes as outlined in the Calculation policy. Maths will be taught as a subject in its own right or where appropriate through another subject such as Science, History and Art.

Foundation Stage

  • The programme of study for the Foundation stage is set out in the EYFS Framework. Maths involves providing children with opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems; and to describe shape, spaces and measures.

Key Stage 1 and 2

  • Our children should make connections across mathematical ideas to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competence in solving increasingly sophisticated problems.
  • At Key Stage 1 we ensure that children develop confidence and mental fluency with whole numbers, counting and place value. This involves working with numerals, words and the four operations, including with practical resources (e.g. concrete objects and measuring tools).
  • By the end of Year 2, children should know the number bonds to 20 and be precise in using and understanding place value.

Lower Key Stage 2

  • Our children become increasingly fluent with whole numbers and the four operations, including number facts and the concept of place value.
  • At this stage, they develop their ability to solve a range of problems, including with simple fractions and decimal place value.

By the end of Year 4, our children should have memorised their multiplication tables up to and including the 12 multiplication table and show precision and fluency in their work. We also encourage them to read and spell mathematical vocabulary correctly and confidently.

Teaching – ‘mastery of maths’

  • In the Foundation Stage, our children are given the opportunity to develop their understanding of number, measurement, pattern and shape and space through a combination of short, formal teaching as well as a range of planned structured play situations, where there is plenty of scope for exploration.
  • Our children will become very competent ‘counters’ so that their fluency with the number system provides a foundation for mathematical understanding. Counting forwards and backwards in many different sized steps as well as from different starting and ending points is essential.
  • Our children are encouraged to explain their thinking
  • Children’s mental maths is of great importance, with number bonds, times tables facts and various strategies for calculation taught and practiced at school with support sought from parents through homework activities.
  • A progression towards efficient written calculations is developed and applied consistently in each year-group. The school Calculation Policy is followed.
  • Though the nature of lessons will be very different depending on the needs of the class are active; practising skills they haven’t yet mastered; learning something new OR learning to apply their knowledge to different contexts. They enjoting maths, working at a good pace and being productive; sharing their thoughts and methods and being successful.

Progression

The emphasis in teaching varies according to the stage of mathematical development which the children have reached. In the Foundation and Key Stage1, teachers establish the use of mathematical language, giving high priority to talk about work and to incorporating mathematical concepts in discussion in the classroom, home and the imaginary worlds young children enter through their reading and their play.  Gradually children are introduced to more formal and written methods of solving problems.  At each Key Stage, teachers select appropriate classroom organisation for the task in hand, incorporating individual, small group and whole class teaching.

Assessment

Assessment is a continuous progress and is

a)Formative ie point a way forward.

b)Summative ie shows what has been achieved.

  • Assessment for learning occurs throughout the entire maths lesson, enabling teachers/teaching assistants to adapt their teaching/input to meet the children’s needs.
  • Termly tracking is used in order that children who are not making good progress over time can be targeted for support in one form or another. What that support will be and how intensive, depends upon the child’s needs and it may be a simple strategy within whole class teaching that is needed. Where further support is deemed necessary, children can access interventions.
  • Statutory Tests are taken in Year 2.

Parents are informed of children’s progress in maths through:

  • Informal discussions
  • Parental consultation evenings
  • Annual reports

Parental involvement

We recognise that parents/carers make a significant difference to children’s progress in maths and encourage this partnership. They play an important part in maths education in every day life, such as shopping, telling the time and awareness of shapes in the environment.  In Key Stage 2, parents are encouraged to help children to learn their tables and to hep with their Numeracy homework.  An annual Numeracy evening is provided for early years parents which provides them with tips on how to support early counting skills and a ‘hands on’ afternoon provides parents with the necessary skills to aid their child(ren) with any math’s homework which they may receive in Key Stage 2.  Every child from Year 2 also has a personal log in to ‘Rock Star maths’ which is used for homework activities.