Maths

Intent: At William Levick, our aim is to make maths fun and engaging.  We want all children to share our passion for this subject and develop a ‘can do’ attitude.  Our aim is for maths to be accessible for all; everyone striving to acquire the essential mathematical knowledge, skills, and understanding.  Mathematical concepts, fluency in mathematical procedures, and the ability to apply these skills in real-life problem-solving and reasoning contexts is the main focus to the maths curriculum.  We want the children to move on to using their maths skills confidently at secondary school and in their adult lives.

Impact: Using concrete and pictorial representations is a key feature to our maths curriculum.  By providing hands-on, visual experiences, the children gain a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts and grasp them with more clarity.  Beginning new maths concepts in this way rather than teaching an abstract idea proves to have longer lasting results.  Children will choose to move onto using more abstract methods once they have grown in confidence.

Implementation: Our maths curriculum is structured in alignment with the UK National Curriculum and the 'White Rose Maths' scheme. This allows for a systematic progression of skills and knowledge acquisition, ensuring that children develop a strong foundation in key areas of mathematics.

Formative assessment plays a crucial role in determining what exactly the children will learn.  Initial assessments identify the key areas for study and daily monitoring of children's progress, identifies the areas for further development. Intervention is also necessary to ensure that any gaps in learning are filled. Teachers provide timely feedback to children, both individually and as a class, enabling them to reflect on their understanding, learn from mistakes, and persevere when facing challenges.

The scaffolded approach, utilising concrete and pictorial representations, forms an integral part of our teaching methodology. Children engage in hands-on activities, draw visual representations, and use manipulatives to develop a deep understanding of mathematical concepts. As they progress, they gradually transition to more abstract representations.

During daily maths lessons, teachers employ a range of teaching strategies, including explicit instruction, guided practice, and independent work.  This caters for diverse learning styles and abilities. Additionally, problem-solving and reasoning activities are embedded within lessons to promote critical thinking and application of mathematical skills.  Regular practise of explaining their ideas to others and being part of group discussions, improves the children’s ability to communicate their mathematical thinking and provides opportunities to analyse results.

Our daily mathematics lessons, combined with morning 'fluency' sessions, provide regular and consistent opportunities for children to practice and consolidate their skills. This enables mathematical knowledge to be retained. Our curriculum outline for maths, utilising the White Rose Maths resources, can be found here and further details about maths in our Foundation Stage can be found here.

Children in KS2 also have access to TT rock stars, which is a engaging maths program to help children improve their speed and fluency when learning the times tables. We have recently been awarded a gold award from the company of our participation in the program.