Maths vision
Here at Minworth, we believe that maths should be exciting, engaging and allow children to develop mastery. Maths is fundamental to the world around us. We pride ourselves on providing our pupils with the skills to become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, reason mathematically and solve problems by applying their knowledge to a variety of questions.
Our children will leave with varied strategies to mentally calculate, as well as being taught the knowledge and skills necessary for written methods and approaches, which will support reasoning, and problem solving.
Curriculum
At Minworth, we use White Rose Maths schemes of learning, alongside the Ready to Progress criteria and a Concrete, Pictorial and Abstract (CPA) approach, to provide a comprehensive and expertly designed journey though the world of Mathematics.
Our progressive teaching point approach is designed to allow children to deepen fundamental knowledge, before being appropriately challenged by extending their learning. We recognise that not all children will enter a lesson with the same prior knowledge, in having progressive teaching points it allows learners to move at a pace that is suitable for them to acquire the knowledge and skills required. Therefore meaning that our Greater Depth learners can be accessing application tasks through reasoning and problem solving throughout the lesson.
Mental Maths
Our aim is for all of our children, irrespective of background or ability, to become effective and enthusiastic mathematicians; to be able to work with mental accuracy and to select appropriate strategies - today, tomorrow and in the years that follow their time at Minworth.
The journey to being an effective mental mathematician starts in the early years and, at Minworth, we fully understand that before our children can be expected to calculate mentally, they must first be given the opportunity to learn the basics of number: counting and recognition of number being predominant.
Mental Maths will be taught in discrete sessions daily, in KS1 this will be at the beginning of their maths lessons whereas for KS2 this will be a designated 20 minute slot after lunch. For our youngest learners, in EYFS, their mental maths is taught through continuous provision and carefully designed learning opportunities across the week.
As children get older, we believe that a consistent approach to the teaching of mental maths is integral to us meeting our aims. We seek to achieve this through our daily mental maths sessions. During these sessions children will follow a 3-step approach:
- Maths Talk- an opportunity to discuss known strategies and explore methods their peers find useful.
- Introduction/Practise of a new mental skill
- Application of mental skill into a contextualised problem.
This approach focusses on the acquisition of key number facts as expected in the National curriculum and further information can be found in our school mental maths policy.
Maths Lesson
Mathematics begins in Reception where children begin to learn the basics of number:
- Counting
- Recognition of number
- Number bonds
- Subitise
- Counting
- Patterns in number
- Comparison of quantities
- Comparison of numbers
It is important our children 'develop a strong grounding in number' in order for them to develop the 'building blocks' needed later for them to 'excel mathematically'. To do so, children will learn with concrete resources to support their development.
Maths is taught through discrete lessons, cross curricular links and continuous provision activities. The learning opportunities take the form of adult-led activities and child-led learning through play-based activities.
From Year 1 onwards, pupils begin to follow the National Curriculum and are provided with the opportunity to apply the skills of each mathematical area for learning through daily lessons. Adapted from the White Rose Scheme of Learning, these lessons enable children to work on their fluency, reasoning and problem solving skills within a maths conception.
The teaching of Maths is broken down into a 5 part lesson, across the school, which consists of the following:
- Mental maths lesson
- Lesson review and recap of previous knowledge
- Revisit of previous vocabulary and introduce new vocabulary - star words
- Three progressive teaching points encompassing the CPA approach
- Exit Ticket- to consolidate and apply knowledge from the lesson.
An overview of what children will be learning throughout the year are detailed below.
Year Group Schemes of Learning
Multiplication
Times tables are an important foundation to many mathematical concepts. In addition to the importance of mental arithmetic skills, we value children's ability to recall multiplication facts. We ensure that children have chance to practise multiplication skills in mental maths lesson, in maths lessons and where appropriate with interventions. Children are also given weekly opportunities for practise and rehearsal through Times Table Rockstars.
Supporting learning at home
We recognise that parents make a positive contribution towards their children’s mathematical understanding by supporting them at home. Weekly, children will take home learning opportunities, which consolidate their in school learning.
We also encourage children to enjoy practicing their maths skills independently. Here is a list of websites that can be used to support this further:
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
http://www.active-maths.co.uk/