Mathematics
Mathematics is taught using the National Curriculum. We use the Mathematics Mastery program in Reception through to Year 6 and apply the principles in our Nursery provision. Our curriculum promotes fluency in order to reduce cognitive load and enhance our pupils’ abilities to reason and solve problems. With increasing sophistication children learn to talk mathematically, developing their vocabulary through talk tasks. Across the school, children learn to use technology confidently to support and enhance their mathematics, broadening their skillset and understanding of the subject’s fascinating diversity.
Intent:
At Shacklewell Primary School, we understand that a deep grasp of mathematics is essential to enabling greater social equity and mobility. To achieve this, our curriculum prepares children to be confident mathematicians with a deep conceptual understanding of the skills required to problem solve across varied academic disciplines.
We want our pupils to understand the skills and knowledge to be successful throughout their school life and into the future. Through carefully designed lessons, our teachers are able to make meaningful connections between content with a high emphasis placed on enquiry. As a result of this, our pupils are encouraged to think critically to find solutions, helping them to secure mastery.
Implementation:
Mathematics is planned and sequenced using Mathematics Mastery. This ensures careful cumulative coverage. Each school year begins with a focus on the concepts and skills that have the most connections, and these concepts are then applied and connected throughout the school year to consolidate learning; this gives all pupils the opportunity to ‘master maths’.
Our regular arithmetic sessions promote confident mathematical fluency and this, along with times table knowledge, is taught, tested and celebrated across all year groups. We place a large emphasis on reasoning and vocabulary, building these skills from the EYFS, where interactions are carefully planned to elicit verbal responses.
Teachers are supported to be expert teachers of mathematics through ongoing support from senior leaders. Planning support, modelled teaching and peer review sessions promote a culture of professional dialogue which is enhanced by external advisors who provide strategic oversight to the whole New Wave Federation mathematics team.
Impact:
It is imperative that children have a secure understanding of each mathematical concept before moving on. At Shacklewell we know that the children have mastered the content in each unit because teachers use assessment to identify and address misconceptions as and when they arise.
Children are tested on the content they have been taught after each half term and the gap analysis data informs 'Time for Review' lessons. These lessons are designed to give teachers the opportunity to deliver the content with a different approach, to enable the children to secure their subject knowledge.
Teachers and teaching assistants deliver targeted maths interventions based on in class assessments to consolidate children’s understanding before they move on. We also use the summative PUMA tests as an indicator of the pupils’ overall progress in mathematics.
Enrichment:
At Shacklewell, we explore every opportunity to promote mathematical learning across our curriculum. We practise and embed mathematical learning through our computing curriculum, where discrete coding is taught with explicit links to mathematics. Science, geography, PE and history lessons are also planned with maths in mind to ensure children have the opportunity to explore maths through our creative approach to topics.
All children are exposed to open-ended investigations which are presented through a real life context. In their approach to these tasks, the children learn the invaluable skills of collaborative planning and systematic working. We ensure that mathematics has a particular relevance for our students, and is not just a subject that is taught at school. We explore maths in relation to our locality and conduct our own investigations. We research noteworthy mathematicians and ensure that there are visits out of school by the students or visits to the school by outside speakers.
