Maths
Intent
At Even Swindon Primary School, we are Mathematicians.
We believe that our well-rounded Maths curriculum will enable children to become confident problem solvers who embrace and enjoy the challenge of applying a range of skills and strategies to real life contexts.
We have carefully designed our Maths curriculum to provide opportunities for children to explore Maths and we aim for children to develop a deep and secure understanding of mathematical concepts through an experience rich curriculum.
We strive to inspire our pupils to secure and master a mathematical understanding which supports them in their everyday lives and will aid them in being successful in life beyond their school years.
Link
Implementation
- Maths is taught daily throughout the school.
- White Rose medium term planning is adapted to create a bespoke curriculum designed to meet the needs of our children. Through the use of this planning, we can ensure a broad and balanced coverage of the National Curriculum for Mathematics. The mastery approach is used throughout the school which allows our teaching to focus on deepening an understanding of each small step within a larger concept. A fundamental part of this approach is the structure of the lesson; a 40 minute lesson each morning followed up with a 20 minute lesson each afternoon to develop the fluency of number based skills.
- Through the use of our personalised visual calculation policy, we can ensure that skills, methods and strategies are being taught progressively from EYFS to Year 6.
- Effective assessment for learning is used to make sure children are moved on in their learning or supported when finding it difficult.
- Our use of the mastery approach to teaching provides our children with access to same day and teacher-led interventions that target children who still need further support to consolidate their understanding. Some children in our school who are identified as having gaps in their knowledge and understanding receive interventions such a ‘pre-teaching’ which helps to close these gaps and to further develop their confidence within maths.
- The structure of our lessons allows children to become fluent in their use of new skills and concepts and to develop their reasoning and understanding in all aspects of problem solving. This is done through carefully planned learning opportunities and lesson structure. The tasks set reflect Bloom’s Taxonomy of hierarchical critical thinking skills and encourage daily challenge for our more able pupils.
- We pride ourselves on our use of models, images and concrete resources and we put this at the heart of each lesson throughout the school. We understand the importance of hands-on learning and the benefits that this has for all of our different learners.
- The introduction of Maths is crucial for our learners in Early Years, children begin to develop a fluency of numbers through a range of teacher led sessions and continuous provision. Children are given time to explore new concepts for themselves and mathematical vocabulary is introduced as they develop their understanding through play.
- Maths is led across the school by the maths team which consists of teachers with a range of knowledge and expertise. We work together to plan a variety of CPD opportunities for teachers, TAs and parents across the school, this can involve TA meetings, staff meetings, TD days, cluster school meetings, maths workshops for parents and opportunities to develop our own professional learning.
Impact
We believe high quality learning in maths has been achieved when pupils view themselves as mathematicians, showing confidence and capability in solving problems as they apply their learned knowledge and skill in real life contexts.
This will be evident through high engagement in lessons from all pupils, well-resourced classroom environments with models, images and manipulatives easily accessible, progression of skills taught through a small-step, mastery approach and a high success rate of children meeting the national expectations at the end of Early Years, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.
The impact of our maths curriculum will be overseen by the subject leader(s) through learning walks, team teaching, book looks, pupil and staff voice, planning feedback, and ongoing data analysis.