Intent

At Foresters Primary School, we believe all of our pupils can gain a deep understanding of mathematical concepts, achieving their full potential in an inclusive environment. We aim to provide children with a broad, varied and engaging range of activities to stimulate their mathematical thinking. Mathematics is both a key skill within school, and a life skill, to be utilised throughout every person’s day to day experiences; therefore, we encourage them all to develop a growth mind-set by taking risks, asking questions and solving problems.

The aims of the 2014 National Curriculum are for our pupils to: 

• Become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics through varied and frequent practice with complexity increasing over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and 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 and proof by using mathematical language. 

• Can solve problems by applying knowledge to a variety of routine and non-routine problems, including breaking down problems into simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions. 

The National Curriculum sets out year-by-year programmes of study for key stages 1 and 2. This ensures continuity and progression in the teaching of mathematics. The Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework 2021 sets standards for the learning, development and care of children from birth to five years old and supports an integrated approach to early learning. 

The EYFS Framework in relation to mathematics aims for our pupils to: 

• Develop and improve their skills in counting to beyond 20.

• Have a deep understanding of numbers to 10.

• Understand and use numbers to 10. 

• Calculate simple addition and subtraction problems and recall number bonds to at least 5.

• Subitise (recognise quantities without counting) up to 5.

• Compare quantities up to 10 in different contexts, recognising when one quantity is greater than, less than or the same as the other quantity.

• Explore and represent patterns within numbers up to 10, including evens and odds, double facts and how quantities can be distributed equally.

Implementation

The principle focus of mathematics teaching is to ensure that pupils are able to reason mathematically and become sound problem solvers as they develop confidence and mental fluency appropriate to their age group. The ‘Teaching for Mastery’ approach is used to achieve this, employing a ‘Context - Concrete - Pictorial - Abstract’ method of teaching: each new concept is introduced through a meaningful context, which is then represented with the use of concrete objects (manipulatives), pictorial representations and then the more abstract written methods. This inclusive approach allows the whole class to access the same content at the same pace; whereas differentiation occurs through questioning and scaffolding. Therefore, higher attaining children, or those pupils who grasp concepts quickly, are challenged through more demanding problems which deepen their knowledge of the same content. A comprehensive and detailed Medium Term Plan (through the White Rose Maths schemes of learning) provides teachers with the exemplification for mathematics objectives, which are broken down into small sequences of learning to ensure that each mathematical concept is linked thoroughly from one year to the next, providing tight progression of knowledge and skills through opportunities for pupils to revisit prior learning, learn new content and consolidate this through plenty of practice.

The National Curriculum for Mathematics 2014, and the EYFS Statutory Framework (Early Learning Goals for Number & Numerical Patterns) provide the long term planning for mathematics taught in the school.

Individual lessons are carefully structured with fluency, reasoning and problem solving opportunities and tasks. Lessons are designed to ensure that all children can fully access the learning and challenge is provided through carefully thought out teacher questioning, and Greater Depth challenge tasks throughout the lesson as well as part of the independent work. This allows for pupils’ difficulties and misconceptions to be identified through immediate formative assessment and addressed with appropriate intervention within the lesson. At times, it may mean individual or small group intervention later the same day; however, there are very few ‘closing the gap’ strategies, because there are fewer gaps to close.

Teachers employ a range of planning and teaching strategies, which include:

• Micro-progression in weekly and daily planning: Lessons are planned to build upon prior knowledge from the lesson before, but also within the lesson. The small steps that were learnt in the previous lesson are reviewed at the beginning of the next lesson. Tiny steps are made within each lesson to develop a secure understanding of the concept taught. 

• Carefully designed layered tasks (fluency): Independent tasks are carefully planned to deepen children’s understanding as they move through them. They are all based on the same concept that gradually deepen a child’s understanding as the questions become more complex. Children are challenged through depth rather than moving onto the next concept or working on higher numbers. Greater Depth challenges are accessible by any child that is secure with the concept being taught and not restrictive to any particular group of children. 

• Misconceptions e.g. True/False questions (reasoning): These are planned as part of the main lesson to anticipate typical misconceptions and address them within the lesson. Spotting mistakes, enables children to think about the concept at a deeper level.

• Opportunities for greater depth (problem solving): Greater depth is planned into the whole lesson through different representations and carefully planned questions. This can be accessed by all attainment groups.

• Single learning point: Each lesson planned, has a single learning point for all. The lesson focuses on the teaching of a concept, not a procedure.

• Carefully planned questions: Specific questions are planned into every lesson. A range of open and closed questions are asked to encourage all pupils to discuss and share their mathematical understanding and extend children working at greater depth. 

• CCPA: Lessons are planned and delivered with the use of context, concrete and pictorial representations that helps pupils make links with mathematical abstraction.

• Conceptual and procedural variation / intelligent practice: Numbers, examples and questions are purposefully chosen to reveal the key mathematical structure and aid conceptual understanding. 

• Ping Pong: Ideas, activities and exploratory independent work regularly move back and forth between pupils and the teacher. Mini plenaries facilitate drawing conclusions through whole class discussion where children are encouraged to share their ideas through reasoning and speaking in full sentences.

• Stem sentences: All children are expected to understand and use the correct and relevant mathematical vocabulary when explaining their mathematical thinking. They are expected to speak in full sentences when sharing an answer. This is facilitated and supported by the use of stem sentences and sentence stems, which helps with the correct phrasing of a mathematical concept and develops children’s ability to generalise, reason and draw conclusions of their mathematical learning. 

Impact

It is vital that the impact of our mathematics curriculum is that children understand the relevance of what they are learning in relation to real world concepts. Through a quality curriculum, effective and engaging teaching, we strive for our pupils to be confident learners and ready for the next stage of learning as they will:

• Become more fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time. Pupils will build on their increasingly well-developed fluency skills, which is committed to their long term memory. They will be able to retrieve these rapidly and accurately to become more independent in applying this knowledge and skills to more complex concepts and procedures. 

• Be able to reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, making links between mathematical relationships; justify their reasons using accurate mathematical vocabulary and terminology and make generalisations.

• Become more sophisticated problem solvers by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering to seek solutions.