Maths

'It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.' (Albert Einstein)

Intent

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.

The purpose of our Mathematics Curriculum is to develop:

A positive attitude towards mathematics
A creative subject that is inherent in other curriculum areas and allowing for a broad and balanced curriculum
To provide children with the skills necessary to carry out problems, that link in with everyday life.
To develop the mind and encourage the learner to understand more about the world in which he/she lives
An ability to solve problems, to reason, to think logically and to work systematically and accurately.
An ability to work both independent and with others
Competence to draw upon mathematical concepts, skills and knowledge.
To be mathematician masters

Implementation

We deliver a 'mastery of mathematics' approach, where number learning is at the heart of what we do. Confidence with number, we believe, is the first steps to competency. All children are different and so are the ways in which they learn. In order to cater for this, teachers use a variety of teaching approaches to enhance children’s learning in mathematics. Children are challenged to achieve their potential whatever their ability; by being encouraged to participate in all lessons and engage in independent, paired or group activities learning with peers.

At the heart of our mastery approach is the Concrete Pictorial Abstract (CPA) approach. Research shows that when children are introduced to a new concept, working with concrete physical resources and pictorial representations leads to a better understanding of abstract concepts. Through careful planning, we aim to ensure that throughout the school, children are given opportunities for:

problem Solving
reasoning
fluency
open ended investigations
practical activities and maths games
using the outdoors
skills practice, mental calculation and recall of facts

Revisiting previous learning and building on what the children know allows our children to learn, and understand maths, more deeply.

Teachers Planning and Organisation

Each class teacher is responsible for the mathematics learning in their classroom and should ensure there is a daily maths lesson taught every day. These lessons involve:

revisiting previous learning as part of a warm up activity; including Kick Starts.
a clearly focused teaching that will build upon previous learning and ensure progression
an emphasis on embedding fluency
the opportunity to reason and problem solve

Each lesson lasts between 45-60 minutes.

In EYFS, the teacher will ensure that children are given the opportunity to build upon their previous knowledge and explore their next steps both within adult guided activities and child initiated activities. Opportunities for mathematics learning will be available in continuous provision, both inside and outside, and adults will question children to move their learning forward.

Spoken language

The national curriculum for mathematics reflects the importance of spoken language in pupils’ development across the whole curriculum – cognitively, socially and linguistically. The quality and variety of language that pupils hear and speak are key factors in developing their mathematical vocabulary and presenting a mathematical justification, argument or proof. They must be assisted in making their thinking clear to themselves as well as others and teachers should ensure that pupils build secure foundations by using discussion to probe and remedy their misconceptions.

Impact

The impact of our maths curriculum is good! We are consistently inline with national expectations and achieve very well compared to similar schools in Lancashire.

Mathematics is an interconnected subject in which pupils need to be able to move fluently between representations of mathematical ideas. The programmes of study are, by necessity, organised into apparently distinct domains, but pupils should make rich connections across mathematical ideas to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competence in solving increasingly sophisticated problems. They should also apply their mathematical knowledge to science and other subjects.

The expectation is that the majority of pupils will move through the programmes of study at broadly the same pace. However, decisions about when to progress should always be based on the security of pupils’ understanding and their readiness to progress to the next stage. Pupils who grasp concepts rapidly should be challenged through being offered rich and sophisticated problems before any acceleration through new content. Those who are not sufficiently fluent with earlier material should consolidate their understanding, including through additional practice, before moving on.

Assessment of impact forms an integral part of every maths lesson at our school - we use formative, daily assessments and end of unit tests. In addition to this, we use termly tests to check on the cumulative knowledge that our children are gaining. Staff continually look at the level of knowledge and understanding shown by the children being taught during every part of the maths lesson and make changes in their teaching to ensure that a solid knowledge and understanding are being developed. Linking with our mastery approach, staff ensure that confidence and resilience continually develop in each and every child, taking the small steps approach to ensure an understanding in every lesson. The way children explain their methods and understanding and the mathematical vocabulary play as big a part as getting the answer correct.

Following a mastery approach to securing mathematical understanding of number, our calculations are progressive and detailed in this document here for you. Calculations Policy

Multiplication Tables Check (MTC)
The multiplication tables check (MTC) is statutory for primary school children in Year 4.

The purpose of the MTC is to determine whether pupils can recall their times tables fluently, which is essential for future success in mathematics. It will help schools to identify pupils who have not yet mastered their times tables, so that additional support can be provided. Schools will have a 3-week check window in June to administer the MTC. Teachers will have the flexibility to administer the check to individual pupils, small groups or a whole class at the same time. The Government have published a leaflet for parents in schools

We are very proud of how well our children achieve in maths, this was the picture in 2024:

The Early Years

KS2 data

Our school         80% met the Good Level of Development

Children achieving in number ELG 80%

children achieving in Pattern ELG 80%

78% met the expected standard in maths

30% exceeded the expected standard and achieved greater depth

How we teach maths at SMSA

In the pdf section at the bottom of this page are our yearly overviews - so you can see what your child is learning and what is coming. The small steps we take to ensure maths is secure for our learners are found in the links here:

Brain science tells us that your child will remember more by learning maths in small, related chunks. We also used the best available research to map out the crucial learning steps that will help your child to understand what they are learning clearly.We’ve divided each block of knowledge into a series of small learning steps. Together, these small steps cover all the curriculum content that your child needs to know.

Small steps Autumn EYFS Small steps Spring EYFS Small steps Summer EYFS

Small steps Autumn Y1 Small steps Spring Y1 Small steps Summer Y1

Small steps Autumn Y2 Small steps Spring Y2 Small steps Summer Y2

Small steps Autumn Y3 Small steps Spring Y3 Small steps Summer Y3

Small steps Autumn Y4 Small steps Spring Y4 Small steps Summer Y4

Small steps Autumn Y5 Small steps Spring Y5 Small steps Summer Y5

Small steps Autumn Y6 Small steps Spring Y6 Small steps Summer Y6

Please note that due to the shortened number of teaching weeks in Spring, the Y6 small step document needs the unit of work on measurement to roll into the new term, but the sequence in which each step within a unit is delivered, remains the same.