Maths

At King Charles Primary School, we use a teaching for mastery approach. Maths teaching for mastery supports the idea that everyone can do maths. All pupils are encouraged by the belief that by working hard at maths they can succeed.

To establish:

Coherence: Lessons are broken down into small, connected steps that gradually unfold the concept, providing access for all children and leading to a generalisation of the concept and the ability to apply the concept to a range of contexts. Our lessons are broken down into 4 stages- ‘Connect’ ‘Key Learning’ Going Deeper’ and ‘Developing Expertise’. During each of these stages staff follow the I Do, We Do, You Do approach whereby there is an explicit teaching of skills, an opportunity to practise these skills before applying them in independent practice.

Representation and Structure: Representations used in lessons expose the mathematical structure being taught, the aim being that students can do the maths without recourse to the representation.

Mathematical Thinking: If taught ideas are to be understood deeply, they must not merely be passively received but must be worked on by the student: thought about, reasoned with and discussed with others.

Fluency: Quick and efficient recall of facts and procedures and the flexibility to move between different contexts and representations of mathematics. Additional fluency lessons following the ‘Mastering Number’ Scheme occur 4 times a week from Reception to Year 2 with Reception using this as their main maths curriculum. We endeavour to secure firm foundations in the development of good number sense for all children from Reception through to Year 1 and Year 2. The aim over time is that children will leave KS1 with fluency in calculation and a confidence and flexibility with number. Attention is given to key knowledge and understanding needed in Reception classes, and progression through KS1 to support success in the future.

In KS2, children follow the ‘NumberSense Maths- Times Table Fluency Programme’. This aims to develop the children’s fluency of core multiplication facts that provide the foundation for all written and mental multiplication and division. New facts are introduced and taught visually through the conceptual lessons, and aurally through the chanting of verbal sound patterns. Facts are learned to fluency through daily practice sessions with scores tracked daily and targeted support provided where needed.

Variation: This is twofold. It is firstly about how the teacher represents the concept being taught, often in more than one way, to draw attention to critical aspects, and to develop deep and holistic understanding. It is also about the sequencing of the episodes, activities and exercises used within a lesson and follow up practice, paying attention to what is kept the same and what changes, to connect the mathematics and draw attention to mathematical thinking.

Our long term planning follows the National Curriculum 2014 and teachers use Schemes of learning published by White Rose Maths to plan effectively, producing lessons incorporating fluency, reasoning and problem solving. This is complemented with additional resources, such as NCETM materials, to reinforce reasoning and problem solving, ensuring skills and knowledge are built on year by year and sequenced appropriately. Once mathematical concepts have been taught and practised through varied fluency activities, children have opportunities to apply their learning to reasoning and problem solving activities. We encourage children to ‘go deeper’ into concepts using prompts including: convenience me, explain it, evaluate it, use it and prove it.