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Mathematics
“Mathematics is a creative and highly inter-connected discipline that has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems. It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment.
A high-quality mathematics education therefore provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.” National Curriculum 2014
At Seething and Mundham Primary School, we aim to foster a love of learning for Maths. We believe success in mathematics is possible for every child, whatever their background or prior attainment. We believe that ‘The answer is only part of the journey’
We want every child to:
- Enjoy Maths.
- Believe they can succeed in Maths
- Know that Maths is vital in everyday life.
- Be prepared to have a go and feel safe to make mistakes and learn from these.
- Be resilient and understand that to achieve requires effort.
- Be able to confidently solve problems in everyday life situations and in their future learning.
Our teachers use a Mastery-based approach when teaching Maths
Mastery involves knowing how and why the mathematics works. It means being able to use mathematics knowledge in new and unfamiliar situations.
Mastery is achieved through developing conceptual understanding and encouraging reasoning and mathematical thinking, as well as reinforcing procedural fluency.
Our lessons are fun and engaging. We spend time developing a deep understanding of the key ideas and concepts that are needed to underpin future learning. The structures and connections within the mathematics are emphasised, which helps to ensure that children’s learning is sustainable over time.
Children use concrete manipulatives (objects) and pictorial representations (pictures), before moving to abstract symbols (numbers and signs) We give children opportunities to explain or justify their mathematical reasoning using the correct mathematical vocabulary and provide them with plenty of opportunities to solve a variety of problems and make rich connections across mathematical ideas.
Key facts such as number facts are learnt and practiced regularly to avoid cognitive overload in the working memory. This helps students to focus on new ideas and concepts.
To support children in achieving this, we use the White Rose scheme of work in Years 1-6, which is a Mastery embedded programme. Planning is also supplemented with NCETM materials.
In EYFS, children’s mathematics learning is on-going and is assessed against the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum.
Teachers give children a range of real and purposeful opportunities to develop their understanding of mathematics.
We expect most children to move through this programme of study at broadly the same pace. Teachers will make decisions about when to progress based on the security of children’s understanding and their readiness to progress to the next stage. Children who grasp concepts rapidly will be challenged through enrichment and deepening activities before any acceleration through new content. Those who are not sufficiently fluent with earlier concepts will consolidate their understanding, through strengthening activities and support, before moving on.
In addition to their regular Maths lessons, we also seek to promote cross-curricular opportunities for Maths learning wherever possible, for example in Science, D.T., Geography and P.E. Pupils also frequently learn Maths during outdoor learning, enabling them to apply their mathematical skills to the real world.
