Freezywater St George's CofE Primary School

Intent – what are we trying to achieve?

Our school maths vision:

At Freezywater St George’s we are becoming fluent in the language of maths; we nurture the growth of every mathematician through challenge and engagement at all levels. On our mathematical journey, we strive for learning within our classrooms to be extended and explored out into the world and throughout life.

In line with our whole school maths vision, we understand that maths is a journey from which many start at different places. At Freezywater St George’s, our intention is that children foster a love of mathematical learning, whatever their ability or starting place and that they are able to confidently use and apply mathematical concepts across a variety of situations. Therefore, our intent for Mathematics is to teach a rich, balanced and progressive curriculum using maths to reason, problem solve and develop fluent conceptual understanding in each area.

Teachers are supported and aided in their roles - ensuring confidence in the skills and facts they are required to teach. Lessons are child focused and allow the children to better make sense of the world around them relating the pattern between Mathematics and everyday life. We want all children to enjoy Mathematics and to believe and achieve in the subject, with the ability to reason mathematically. We are committed to developing children’s curiosity about the subject, as well as an appreciation of the magnificence and power that Mathematics has to offer as a subject. All of our policies, resources and schemes support our vision e.g. our calculations policy, Rising Stars Scheme and NCETM Teaching for Mastery.

Our Curriculum

At Freezywater St George’s we follow the 2014 National Curriculum for Maths. This places a strong emphasis on children becoming ‘fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics’ allowing them to be able to recall and apply knowledge using a ‘variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication’ quickly and accurately. It is a mastery based curriculum with a focus on reasoning; children are taught and encouraged to reason, prove and justify their answers demonstrating their understanding. As a whole school we use the Rising Stars Maths system which is broken into various units which align to the 2014 National Curriculum Programmes of Study. As identified in the Teacher’s Guide, each year group follow a planning grid displaying the year’s concepts and objectives which are to be covered. It also identifies the resources that the objective links to which come in the form of Textbooks and digital resources  such as eBooks, digital tools and animations. Each unit directly refers to the mathematical vocabulary that needs to be addressed and gives opportunities to master the skill and then apply learning. The use of developing mathematically literate learners is emphasised in our vision and we promote that it is essential for the children to be exposed to and supported in developing quality and varied mathematical vocabulary. Through developing this, the children will be able more confidently access mathematical problems, as well as present mathematical justification, argument or reasoning.

Early years:

The Foundation Stage teaches maths by also following Rising Stars, alongside guidelines from the Early Years ‘Development Matters’ EYFS document. All children are given ample opportunity to develop their understanding of Mathematics. Lessons in the Early Years aim to do this through varied activities that allow children to use, enjoy, explore, practise and talk confidently about maths. EYFS and KS1 lessons have strong practical elements which where possible are cross curricular in approach linking to texts as well as having a ‘real life context’ where possible.  

Implementation – how do we translate our vision into practice?

We implement our approach through high quality teaching - delivering appropriately challenging work for all individuals. To support us we have a range of mathematical resources (manipulatives) in classrooms including Numicon, Base10 and counters. We also use a range of planning resources including those provided by the Rising Stars Scheme of work that we follow, NCETM and NRICH. We continuously strive to better ourselves and frequently share ideas and things that have been particularly effective. Our mastery approach to the curriculum is designed to develop children's knowledge and understanding of mathematical concepts from Early Years through to the end of Year 6.

Furthermore, another reason why we follow, as a whole school, The Rising Stars curriculum is because it promotes the use of multiple representations for all - since objects, pictures, words, numbers and symbols are everywhere! The mastery approach delivery (what the Rising Stars scheme is built upon) incorporates all of these to help children explore and demonstrate mathematical ideas, enrich their learning experience and deepen understanding.

Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract

Concrete – children have the opportunity to use concrete objects and manipulatives to help them understand and explain what they are doing.

 Pictorial – children then build on this concrete approach by using pictorial representations, which can then be used to reason and solve problems.

Abstract – With the foundations firmly laid, children can move to an abstract approach using numbers and key concepts with confidence.

Together, these elements help cement knowledge so pupils truly understand what they’ve learnt and can apply them to other, unfamiliar mathematical situations.

The curriculum hours in Mathematics are non-negotiable – 5 lessons a week – with this expectation being followed by all staff in the school. Every lesson has a clear ‘Learning Intention’ (so the child understands what they will be striving to achieve) and ‘Success Criteria’ to support this. The success criteria is set in order to guide children to achieve their potential (the direction they need to take in order to achieve the lesson intention).This ensures that the learning matches the aims of the curriculum.

Impact – what is the impact of our maths curriculum on our students?

Freezywater St George’s has a nurturing ethos and our approaches support the children in developing their collaborative and independent skills, as well as empathy and the need to recognise the achievement of others. Throughout their learning journey, our children will become fluent in the fundamentals of Mathematics – encouraging them to be life-long learners (as per our Maths vision). The Rising Stars Maths scheme certainly addresses these preconceptions by ensuring that all children experience challenge and success in Mathematics by developing a ‘growth mindset’ to ‘Believe and Achieve’. Through varied and frequent practice, with increasingly complex problems over time, pupils will have the conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.

Feedback from the children truly reflects the impact that our curriculum has on their learning. Our children are resilient and happy learners within Mathematics as they talk enthusiastically about the subject and are eager to further their learning in the next stages of their education. This includes continuing to explore maths and make rich connections across the curriculum (as we do promote threads of maths within other subject areas such as Science!).

Above is the content of what will be covered through the maths curriculum for each year group during the year. The statement column shares the areas to be taught and what the objectives are. These align to the 2014 National Curriculum Programme of Study for Mathematics​. Reference to the units and the letters show the sequence in which specific areas are to be taught and in what unit those skills will be addressed.