“‘Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas…”

Albert Einstein

Intent

We believe that the language of Mathematics is international, teaching us how to make sense of the world around us through developing a child’s ability to calculate, to reason and to solve problems. It enables children to understand and appreciate relationships and pattern in both numbers and space in their everyday lives.

At Park Lane, we strive to ensure that children think mathematically, enabling them to solve problems across a range of subjects. Our curriculum is designed to ensure that children can achieve excellence and experience the awe and wonder that the subject delivers. Pupils are given opportunities to grow as mathematicians; employ various methods to solve problems independently; use knowledge of the four operations to be able to thrive in society; form conjectures and prove/disprove mathematical statements; appreciate the importance of mathematics in society; and use their knowledge to influence decision making.

At Park Lane Primary School and Nursery, we aim for all children to be confident, capable and inquisitive mathematicians. We are not just content to have children competent in calculation, but for them to understand how reasoning and application is integral to mathematical understanding. We aspire for all children to develop number sense, describe a problem, the approach and ways to solve in their own words, represent a problem in a variety of ways (e.g. using concrete materials, pictures and symbols – the CPA approach), explain a problem to someone else in a way that enables others to solve problems, recognise a problem in new situations, contexts and be able to make connections beyond the maths curriculum, invent their own examples.

Our maths curriculum offers a broad range of experiences and investigations designed to provide pupils with a clear progression of skills and the confidence to apply these beyond the class. Importance is placed on: first hand experiences, reasoning and application of skills, with an expectation that teachers will access the wide range of resources available to support all children in their mathematical progression.

Through our curriculum, we encourage and develop the ‘digging deeper’ of skills. This is done through ongoing development of their number sense and fluency, applying this to open ended problems where articulation and reasoning are required, and utilising clear mathematics vocabulary in order to articulate their thoughts.

Our planning/ sequence of learning is provided by White Rose Maths. Our curriculum is sequenced in a way that aids retention of knowledge; demonstrating lasting learning, as opposed to learning for performance. We place emphasis on the four operations & mathematical fluency to ensure that pupils have the basic competencies needed to thrive in society. Our reasoning focus ensures that learning is transferable; it embeds a deeper understanding & highlights that pupils can apply maths.

From the beginning of their journey at Park Lane, we encourage and equip parents and families to engage with our curriculum and extend their children’s learning at home so that we all grow as a learning community together. We strive for our children to develop a passion for Mathematics to aid them in later life and to continue to grow as learners and live out our school vision for years to come.

Implementation

Our mathematics lessons follow the resources and progression provided by White Rose Maths, enabling the children to explore and understand a concept in depth, rather than covering it superficially and then returning several times. The schemes interleave prior content with new concepts, this practice and consolidation helps children grasp the links between topics and understand them in more depth.

Our long term planning for each class ensures that all age appropriate objectives are covered. Teachers have access to White Rose Hub planning and resources but also have the freedom to supplement their teaching with other resources to best meet the needs of their students. Resources are widely used to give children a visual representation of concepts and a learning support when required. A mixture of independent, partner and group work is encouraged to build confidence in all children to tackle new problems. To support staff and children, we also have a range of mathematical resources available to represent mathematical concepts, including Base Ten and place value counters. Staff are encouraged to share ideas, strategies and resources that they have found effective.

Across EYFS/KS1, children build a strong number sense by following the NCETM Mastering Number Programme in addition to their Maths lessons. They use rekenreks to represent numbers visually and see the operations they are performing. This ensures that all children leave KS1 with the knowledge of number required for the KS2 curriculum. Where possible, mathematics skills are integrated into cross curricular learning and applied to enhance other subjects.

In addition, through the NCETM and Maths Hub, staff are developing the Mastery approach through planning, teaching and reflecting upon effective maths lessons. This includes the following:

• The belief that all pupils can achieve
• Keeping the class working together so that all can access and master mathematics, aided by appropriate differentiation.
• Development of deep mathematical understanding
• Development of both factual/procedural and conceptual fluency
• Longer time on key topics, providing time to go deeper and embed learning.

At the beginning of each of our mathematics sessions, we also have a structured arithmetic session called ‘On the Boil’. This helps develop children’s fluency skills that can be recalled and applied to open ended problems where articulation and reasoning are required, also utilising clear mathematics vocabulary in order to articulate their thoughts.

Times tables are also a pivotal part of mathematics curriculum at Park Lane. Children have various opportunities to develop their mental recall of times tables during ‘Times Table Tuesday’, as part of our ‘On the Boil’ sessions and also whilst taking part in tournaments both internally and externally, both locally and nationally. We subscribe as a school to TTrockstars which children have access to from Y2 onwards to practise and embed their times tables away from the point of teaching.

Impact

To ensure the success of our pupils, we must know where they are, and the next steps required for progress to continue. Quality first teaching which adapts to each cohort is essential. Therefore, our teachers use a mixture of formative and summative assessment to guide their planning and teaching throughout the duration of the year. As well as this, teachers assess children’s progress against the daily learning objectives throughout the lesson itself.

In addition, children sit termly assessment papers provided by White Rose Maths. Teachers can also choose to complete an end of unit assessment to reflect on learning and identify areas to come back to. All teacher assessments are then collated and input into our management information system where teachers indicate children’s progress against National Curriculum statements. This helps to identify trends and gaps so appropriate measures can be put in place.

Progress within Maths is reviewed by SLT regularly and teachers attend termly Raising Achievement Meetings to discuss the progress of the children within their class. As staff, we regularly discuss and review the impact of our mathematics curriculum and adapt where necessary to best meet the needs of our children.

Maths is also regularly moderated both in school across year groups to check the progression across school; at consortium moderations in the local authority; and across the Midlands Hub of Trust schools. This ensures our maths attainment and progress is monitored through the duration of the academic year.

After the implementation of our outstanding Mathematics lessons, our Griffins have developed a love of Mathematics which in turn has equipped them with the ability to be effective mathematicians.

We know our aim is met when a child leaves Park Lane, as they can:

• Understand the importance of mathematics in everyday life.
• Develop the ability to solve problems through decision-making and reason with the same degree of accuracy and confidence as they do when calculating in a range of contexts.
• Write mathematically; deepening the link between mathematical skill and mathematical literacy
• Calculate with confidence – Share a depth of understanding and can draw from their long term memory in order to solve new problems
• Approach the next stage in their learning journey confidently having exceeded statutory and national expectation.

The involvement of our families through support videos and encouragement of learning on both Seesaw and our social media platforms ensures that standards are driving higher continuously, and families are supported with key vocabulary/ current methods to support their children’s learning from home. This is important to enable fluidity across both settings.

Curriculum Documents