LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT
Intent
At St Columba’s we aim to deliver a high-quality Maths curriculum that is both challenging and enjoyable. We aim for all of our pupils to be able to reason, problem solve and develop fluent conceptual understanding in each area of the Maths curriculum. We aspire for our children to become confident mathematicians who are willing to take on a challenge.
The focus of our Maths curriculum is not on rote learning but on relational understanding. Pupils are encouraged to think mathematically and are introduced to new concepts using the Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract (CPA) approach. Using real-life contexts and problems allows children to develop skills which they can use in their daily lives. It gives Maths meaning and makes it more fun!
Our curriculum allows children to better make sense of the world around them. We intend for our pupils to be able to apply their mathematical knowledge to other curriculum areas, such as Science, Geography, PE and Design and Technology. We want children to know that Maths is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and many forms of employment.
Implementation
At St Columba’s we use the Power Maths scheme as a basis for our Maths teaching, supplementing the scheme with additional lessons to address any gaps in the children’s understanding and provide further practice of new concepts. This ensures that our children have access to a broad and balanced Maths curriculum whilst allowing them to make links between mathematical concepts.
All children are catered for within Maths lessons, ensuring that the teacher offers the necessary support and challenge for each individual to make progress. We use a wide array of concrete resources and pictorial representations to support our children with their understanding of abstract concepts. ICT is incorporated into our Maths curriculum through the use of resources such as Times Tables Rockstars and Learning By Questions, to engage and inspire our pupils, whilst providing further challenge.
At St Columba’s we encourage children to have a growth mindset and to approach Maths with a positive and resilient attitude. We use the Power Maths characters to show children how to think about a problem in a different way and to allow children to understand that there is often more than one way to find the answer.
We aim to encourage a depth of learning for our children so that their knowledge can be transferred and applied into a variety of contexts and incorporated into other subject areas as well as their daily life experiences. Maths is widely promoted across the school. Each classroom has its own Maths area, which includes a working wall and a range of resources and equipment for children to access. Maths is also displayed around school to show children that Maths is everywhere. A TT Rockstars display is used to track each class’ progress from Years 2 – 6.
Our aim is to ensure that the three core areas of the national curriculum are covered in all our lessons: fluency, reasoning and problem solving. We offer the children the opportunity to have varied and fluent practice of their maths skills with the focus on their ability to recall and apply their knowledge quickly and accurately. Reasoning is a key area in all of our lessons and children are given opportunities to describe, explain, justify and prove in order to show their understanding.
Mathematical vocabulary is an essential part of each lesson and the children need to understand this within the area they are studying and be able to make rich connections across other areas within this subject. Stem sentences are used within Maths lessons and displayed on working walls to aid children when structuring their responses and to be enable them to explain their understanding of a concept.
Maths lessons at St Columba’s provide children the opportunity to acquire new knowledge, deepen their mathematical understand, reason about a problem and use mathematical language to discuss and solve problems.
All Maths lessons have the following key elements:
1. Short fluency/recall session
2. Main teaching input
3. Practice activities
4. Challenge
5. Reflect
All lessons cater for the individual needs of the children and include an element of reasoning and problem solving. Teaching assistants are carefully planned for to support individuals or small groups of learning. Intervention sessions also take place outside of the daily Maths lesson in order to address gaps in knowledge and understanding.
The mapping of Mathematics across school shows clear progression in line with age-related expectations. Through our links with the Maths Hub, teachers and governors are kept regularly informed of developments in our curriculum and staff are supported and aided in their roles, ensuring that they are confident in the skills and knowledge they are required to teach.
In EYFS, our children follow the DfE Development Matters guidance. Each curriculum area is broken down into small steps to ensure that children understand each concept before moving on. Children use both the classroom’s Maths area and the outdoor area to explore number, shape and measure in a range of contexts. Counting is done daily and children are encouraged apply this to elements of their daily routine.
Impact
The impact of our Mathematics curriculum is that children understand the relevance of what they are learning in relation to real-world concept. We have fostered an environment where is Maths is fun and it is ok to be wrong because we can learn from our mistakes.
Our Maths books are full of a range of activities which allow children to develop fluency, reasoning and problem solving. Booster and intervention sessions are supporting children to make good progress and to deepen their mathematical understanding, ensuring a greater proportion of children are on track.
Our children develop the confidence to approach problems and select the best resources and strategies to help them to find the answer. Across the school, children are developing skills in being able to articulate their understanding and are able to reason verbally, through pictorial and abstract representations and in written form.
We set high standards in Maths and provide children with a broad curriculum where depth of learning is key. This enables our children to become confident and resilient Mathematicians, who are well-equipped for the future.
Maths Rationale
Power Maths
From September 2021, Reception to Year 6 will be following the Power Maths scheme of learning. Below is a presentation for parents which explains more about the scheme.
Calculation Policy
Our school’s calculation policy follows the concrete, pictorial and abstract approach, which means that the children first experience the maths in a practical hands-on way, followed by representing the maths using pictures before finally moving to abstract, written methods.
There are separate policies for EYFS, Key Stage One, Lower Key Stage Two (years 3 &4) and Upper Key Stage Two (years 5 & 6). All policies are displayed below.
If you are unsure on any of the methods contained within the policy, your child’s class teacher will be happy to talk through them with you.
Subject Overview
Progression in Maths
The following documents detail the progression in the different areas of Maths learning from Years 1 to 6:
Mathematical Vocabulary
The development of the children’s use and understanding of vocabulary is a key priority within our school. The following documents list all the mathematical vocabulary that the children will be taught in each year group.
