Welcome to the maths page!!
Here you will find an overview of the sort of things we are doing in school. Hopefully it will give you see how maths progresses as your child moves through our school. Obviously this is just a snapshot of what we do. If you have any questions or queries then please do not hesitate to come and see me, Mr Oliver, in Year 5.
Intent...
Our aim is to produce an ambitious, connected curriculum accessible to all our children in St Bede’s right through from Reception to the end of Year 6. The basic skills of mathematics are vital for the life opportunities of our children; we want all children to learn to think mathematically which will enabling them to reason and problem-solve problems in a range of contexts.
Our Mathematics curriculum has been developed to ensure every child can achieve excellence in mathematics. It provides our children with a deep understanding of the subject through a concrete, pictorial and abstract approach. This ensures our children fully understand what they are learning.
We aim to;
- To implement the current legal requirements of the Foundation Stage and the National Curriculum
- To develop positive attitudes and a fascination and excitement of discovery through the teaching and learning of mathematical concepts
- To ensure our children become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, developing their conceptual knowledge and an ability to recall and apply this knowledge rapidly and accurately,
- To ensure that our children can reason mathematically and solve problems
- For our children to develop a ‘can do’ attitude and perceive themselves as mathematicians.
- To broaden our children’s knowledge and understanding of how mathematics is used in the wider world
- For our children to use and understand mathematical language and recognise its importance as a language for communication and thinking.
Implementation:
At St Bede’s, Maths places emphasis on the cumulative mastery of essential knowledge and skills in mathematics.
It embeds a deeper understanding of maths by utilising a concrete, pictorial, abstract approach so that our children understand what they are doing and why they are doing it rather than just learning to repeat routines without grasping what is happening.
The children will have access to a variety of appropriate resources and methods to help them learn and we acknowledge that we don't all learn in the same way. Teachers carefully plan which methods, resources and apparatus are best-suited to teach, model or reinforce the mathematical learning in each lesson. We use pictures, images and concrete resources to reinforce children's mathematical understanding, right through school.
The key features of Maths Mastery are:
- High expectations for every child
- Push for greater depth
- Number sense and place value come first
- Focus on mathematical thinking and language with children confident to say what they are doing and why.
- Using concrete apparatus and resources to support learning where appropriate,
- Reasoning and problem solving are central to learning
- Calculate with confidence – Children should understand why it works
Planning for Mastery
At St Bede’s, we use Number Sense, Primary Stars, White Rose Maths and NCETM maths spine resources to support us in our planning:
Number Sense,
Number Sense is used from Reception to Year 3 and is a series of programs designed to build a deep understanding of number and number relationships and develop fluency in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts and concepts. It is used in addition to the children's maths lesson.
For more information, please visit https://numbersensemaths.com/
Primary Stars,
Primary Stars is a scheme which follows the mastery approach of concrete - pictorial - abstract (CPA). We use it in years 1 and 2 and it allows the children to explore their maths through a series of fluency, reasoning and problem solving activities. This is fully aligned to the new National Curriculum and also White Rose materials which the children will follow in KS2.
For more information, visit https://primarystarseducation.co.uk/our-approach/ where you are shown through the Mastery approach and how it will benefit your child.
White Rose Maths,
- 'White Rose Maths' forms the core of our planning and teaching in maths in KS2, from Year3 up to Year 6 but it is not used exclusively. Teachers are encouraged to draw resources from a range of sources to best meet the needs of their teaching and the children’s intended learning.
- This is a mastery approach to maths, which encourages in-depth coverage of concepts over the year and over the school life of your child.
- White Rose Maths enables the children to move from concrete to pictorial to abstract understanding of mathematical ideas and concepts.
- It also develops deep-learning in maths so that children can apply the skills they have learned in a range of 'real-life' and problem-solving contexts, as well as in other subjects across the curriculum.
Resources
- Each class has an appropriate range of resources to support learning in maths. These are easily accessible for the children so that they can lead their own learning.
- Central resource / equipment cupboard (main corridor).
- Different environments – Indoor and outdoor
- A range of ICT software to support the teaching of specific concepts including Mathletics and TT Rockstars both of which can be used at home.
- For Mathletics, we encourage our children to achieve a certificate each week which is awarded when the child achieves 1,000 points. These build up so for every 5 Bronze certificates, the child is awarded a Silver and for every 5 Silvers, a Gold is awarded.
- Each certificate achieved is praised in our weekly whole-school assembly and each Golden Mathlete has their picture added to our ‘Golden Mathlete Wall’.
- TT Rockstars is used throughout KS2 with regular ‘Battle of the Bands’ taking place where different classes complete against each other and the winners announced in the whole school assembly.
- The White Rose Mathematics Hub Mastery resources are used by all classes for planning and activities.
Impact
In Mathematics Mastery, assessment is continuous and takes place throughout lessons to show children what their next steps are and how to achieve them.
From the beginning of every lesson, teachers and teaching assistants will be assessing what their children are, or are not understanding and use this to scaffold each segment of the lesson. The children’s understanding is reinforced throughout the lesson s through questioning and activities.
Interventions can be both planned for and ‘live’. This means that misconceptions are dealt with immediately and high attaining our children are challenged appropriately. However, it is possible that pre- and post- teaching is provided to ensure that all children can achieve and are prepared for the following lesson.
Foundation Stage
- In Reception, a baseline is made in the Autumn Term which then informs subsequent teaching and learning for each child.
- Their attainment is recorded using photographs and observational notes. Progress is recorded in each child’s Learning Journey and the next steps to be taken are identified. Progress is monitored termly.
- Statutory assessments are made on entry and on exit of the FS.
Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2
In the daily mathematics lesson, formative assessments are made on a day-today basis. Teachers observe, question and evaluate the lesson outcomes to determine progress made and the next steps in learning.
- Summative assessments using the Rising Stars assessment papers are made at the end of each term to monitor children’s knowledge and understanding of concepts taught.
- White Rose Mathematics Hub tests are available to use by Teachers in all year groups from 1 – 6.
- Progress is discussed at termly ‘Pupil Progress Meetings’ and focus children are indicated.
- Statutory assessments are made at the end of each key stage.
Please talk to your child about their experience of maths at school and find out what they have been working on. If you have any questions or would like to know a bit more about what we are doing then please do not hesitate to contact your class teacher or Mr Oliver in Year 4.
Maths Yearly Overviews (please select the link you want...)
Useful websites;
Here are some suggestions for websites and apps for your ipads which will help your child gain confidence with their numeracy...
mathletics.co.uk – the main maths website the children use in school. Challenge people from around the world. Great for mental maths – your child will be an expert in no time!
TT Rockstars - Great for practising our times tables.
woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Maths Zone - lots of fun online interactive activities to help with improving mental maths skills: aimed at 7 -11 year olds.
coolmath4kids.com - games to play age 4 upwards, often updated with new, fun activities.
www.counton.org has lots of ideas and games to play. Mathematically inclined parents might be challenged by ‘Who Wants to be a Mathionnaire?’!
mathszone.co.uk - hundreds of games for children from 5 to 11, arranged according to objectives for all strands of maths
nrich.com/math problems – more complex maths games and puzzles for ‘deeper thinkers’ with different levels of challenge. Answers supplied!
nrich.maths.org - an online monthly magazine with lots of maths puzzles and problems to solve. Different levels of challenge along with puzzles and problem-solving activities.
primaryresources.co.uk - general resources and games to support children to develop their mental maths skills, plus hundreds of fun games to support learning in the mathematical areas of: Numbers and the Number System, Calculations, Solving Problems, Measures, Shape & Space and Handling Data.
Uk.ixl.com/math – a wide range of maths activities organised by year group
Maths apps for Ipad
MeteorMath - Mental maths calculations. Choose the operation or ‘survival’ mode with all 4. Gets progressively more difficult but cannot set difficulty at the start. Free app.
King of Maths - Mental maths calculations. Create a character and log in to progress through levels. All 4 operations gets progressively harder. Free initial app (addition and subtraction) then pay for new levels.
Hungry Fish - Feed the fish with pairs of numbers. Select the level of difficulty. Free initial app (addition) then pay for new levels. Pause it to change difficulty level.
Geoboard - A digital version of the ‘traditional’ classroom resource. Great for lines of symmetry, reflections and shape work. Large and small square grids.
Subtraction - Robot themed game for practicing subtraction. Practice or Test modes. Great for number bonds to 10, 20, 50 and 100. Lots of options including multiple choice, range of questions and number of questions in a level.
Tables - As above but multiplication. Lots of options and excellent for targeting the ones they have to practice.
Achieving level 4 mathematics - Questions cover all areas of maths curriculum. Costs £2.99
Fractions - American – ‘Fourths’ not quarters! Good for numerator and denominator, equivalents, improper and mixed numbers, Adding and multiplying. Nice and visual.
Springbird - Basic addition and subtraction. KS1 focussed.
Educreations - Digital whiteboard that records explanations for playback– sounds and writing/images. Great for getting children to explain methods. Takes a short while to get your head around but children find it easy!
mathBingo (green icon) - Great app for up to 4 players practising calculation. Easy to set difficulty.
Math Bingo (orange icon) - Bingo for 1 player. Children love collecting the bugs.
Motion Math - Excellent ‘tilt screen’ app for fractions, decimals and percentages. There are more excellent motion maths games available.
Maths in action...Year 5 investigating the area of irregular shapes
