Halton Community Combined School
Together, our community
inspires a love of learning and
enables children to find their voice.
Mathematics
Subject leader: Mrs Claire Powell
Intent
The layout of the curriculum, the topics and WHY we are where we are. What we expect the children to learn and why, as a school, we want them to learn this. We are also looking for consistency with the teaching across the school.
Traditionally, Maths has been taught by memorising key facts and procedures, which tends to lead to superficial understanding that can easily be forgotten. At Halton, we believe that children should be able to combine their knowledge of facts as well as be given the skills and confidence to select which mathematical approach is most effective in different scenarios. What we’re seeing at the moment is that the recall of facts is helping with the fluency of children’s maths as they progress through the Curriculum; they show more confidence in their understanding of number and are proud of their achievements.
•All pupils can achieve in mathematics! We believe that all children can succeed as they move through the Curriculum and they can develop a firm understanding of the concepts. A typical Maths lesson will provide the opportunity for all children, regardless of their ability, to work through Fluency, Reasoning and Problem Solving activities on a level that is appropriate to them.
•We want children to enjoy Maths and believe that it is journey with understanding which is achieved through exploration, clarification, practice and application over time. At each stage of learning, children should be able to demonstrate a deep, conceptual understanding of the topic and be able to build on this over time. They should also be able to discuss their learning with fluency and develop their mental maths abilities.
•There are 3 levels of learning:
•Shallow learning: surface, temporary, often lost
•Deep learning: it sticks, can be recalled and used
•Deepest learning: can be transferred and applied in different contexts
The deep and deepest levels are what we are aiming for by promoting discussion and exploration of the learning within the Curriculum, as well as regular practise of the key skills.
Implementation:
Multiple representations for all!
This is really well illustrated in the White Rose scheme that we use in school.
Concrete, pictorial, abstract
Objects, pictures, words, numbers and symbols are everywhere. Our whole school teaching approach incorporates all of these to help children explore and demonstrate mathematical ideas, enrich their learning experience and deepen understanding. Together, these elements help cement knowledge so pupils truly understand what they’ve learnt. Again, this is supported by White Rose.
All pupils, when introduced to a key new concept, should have the opportunity to build competency in this topic by taking this approach. Pupils are encouraged to physically represent mathematical concepts. Objects and pictures are used to demonstrate and visualise abstract ideas, alongside numbers and symbols.
•Concrete – children have the opportunity to use concrete objects and manipulatives to help them understand and explain what they are doing. This is very well used in KS1 and is also used in KS2.
•Pictorial – children then build on this concrete approach by using pictorial representations, which can then be used to reason and solve problems.
•Abstract – With the foundations firmly laid, children can move to an abstract approach using numbers and key concepts with confidence.
•Children are given the opportunity to practise their arithmetic skills every day so that they have a quick recall of facts that they can then use to explore their learning further. There is clear evidence that knowledge of the times tables, learnt throughout the school, helps to inform learning in a variety of areas like fractions, area, perimeter, decimals.
•Staff record and monitor the value of the arithmetic sessions every half term. Regular practise has shown good results.
•Children who need support are easily identified and supported.
•Basing our teaching on White Rose means that the work is sequenced. Learning is developed and built on in a logical order with work being built on each time it’s taught from previous learning.
•Know more = the way that the concepts are represented helps to support different styles of learning.
•Do more = with the White Rose sheets we progress in each lesson from fluency, to varied fluency, to reasoning and greater depth. This is also supplemented with other work from teachers, ie Nrich. The repetition of learning across year groups and ideas and representations in work. We also have a reasoning question linked to the learning from the previous day as well as FB4s and some classes have a recap starter 3 times a week.
•Remember More = this is linked into the above with the reasoning, FB4s & early morning maths, 5 a day as well as the way that we bring Maths into other subjects where possible.
Impact
•Quick recall of facts, times tables, written methods and procedures
•Opportunities for testing so that timed work is not an issue
•· The flexibility and fluidity to move between different contexts and representations of mathematics, both in the Maths lessons and in other contexts.
•· The ability to recognise relationships and make connections in mathematics.
A mathematical concept or skill has been mastered when a child can show it in multiple ways, using the mathematical language to explain their ideas, and can independently apply the concept to new problems in unfamiliar situations and reasoning activities.
If you have any questions regarding mathematics, please contact Mrs Powell via the school office.