MATHS AT ST LUKE'S

What do we want to achieve?

Rationale: Maths is essential to everyday life, needed in science and engineering and technology and financial literacy is required by all. Providing a high-quality mathematics education should be engaging and enjoyable helping pupils to understand the world and encouraging them to be curious learners.

Ambition: The intent of our Maths curriculum is to provide pupils with a high quality Mathematics education so that they are to be successful in their future careers. In line with the aims of the National Curriculum, at St Luke’s C of E Primary School, we ensure that all pupils:

• Become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.
• Reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language
• Can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.

The aim of our Mathematics curriculum is to deliver a curriculum which is accessible to all and that will maximise the outcomes for every child so that they know more, remember more and understand more. As a result of this our intentions are that our pupils will:

• Make rich connections across mathematical ideas to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competence in solving increasingly sophisticated problems.
• Be able to apply their mathematical knowledge to science and other subjects.
• Realise that mathematics has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems.
• Know that it is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment.
• Understand the world, have the ability to reason mathematically. Mathematics has an important role to play in the development of children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

What does Maths look like at St Luke’s?

Our Mathematics curriculum has been designed to meet the statutory requirements of the 2014 National Curriculum; the programmes of study being the basis for learning and adapted to meet the needs of our pupils and to reflect the diverse area in which they live. The National Curriculum sets out what pupils need to learn. The Power Maths scheme of work that we have adopted is endorsed by the DfE and fully meet the requirements of the 2014 National Curriculum. We also utilise the White Rose Maths scheme of work to support Power Maths. The schemes have been designed to allow good coverage of the age-related expectations for the mathematics curriculum as well as providing continuity and progression throughout each year group. Following on from the pandemic, the schemes have been adapted to allow teachers more flexibility with their planning so that they can address any gaps in pupils’ knowledge.

Our main aim is to make our children fluent in solving calculations involving the four mathematical operations and to equip them with the tools to solve a variety of problems. The programmes of study are, by necessity, organised into distinct areas, but pupils will make rich connections across different mathematical strands. Mathematical skills are developed across the curriculum in subjects such as Science, Design and Technology, Computing and PE. To facilitate children to know more and remember more, key concepts run through the whole of our curriculum and opportunities to revisit previous learning are planned into every lesson.

Our Key Principles:

• We believe maths is a subject that all children can do
• We believe that maths should be fun, engaging and rewarding for all learners
• We embed fluency, reasoning and problem solving at the heart of our maths curriculum
• We strive for all children to become competent mathematical thinkers, confident in making connections
• We support children in their understanding through a variety of representations, including concrete, pictorial and abstract:
  • Concrete – children have the opportunity to use concrete objects and manipulatives to help them understand and explain what they are doing.
  • 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.

What does a Mathematics lesson look like at St Luke’s?

Developing problem solving, reasoning skills and mathematical vocabulary is a thread that runs through all of our Maths lessons. Pupils are constantly challenged to explain why, to prove how they know, to convince that they are correct or to find all possible outcomes. They have the opportunity to use a wide range of resources to support their learning such as hundred squares, number lines, cubes, place value cards and other small apparatus.

EYFS

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, our curriculum is taken from the statutory framework. At St Luke’s, we ensure that all areas of EYFS learning are important and interconnected using planned, purposeful play and a mix of adult-led and child-initiated activities. Mathematics is taught through whole class teaching with opportunities to further practice and develop skills within continuous provision and in focused activities. There are cross-curricular opportunities within the environment for children to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems. As well as number, the curriculum supports the children with seeking patterns, making connections, recognising relationships, working shapes and measures, and counting, sorting and matching. Children use their knowledge and skills in these areas to solve problems to ask new questions and make connections across other areas of their learning. It is fantastic to see our children learning through play! To help prepare the children for Year 1, in Reception teachers plan lessons using the Power Maths scheme that is used throughout the rest of the school.

KS1 and KS2

Each day begins with a ‘Power Up’ activity in order to recap on previous learning. This is particularly important at the moment because of the pandemic. Starting the day like this really supports the children to know more and remember more of the mathematical concepts that they are expected to learn for their specific age group. Within the main teaching of a lesson, the CPA (concrete, pictorial, abstract) model permeates throughout Years 1-6. The links made in maths lessons are explicit and focus on real world examples, visual representation, language and manipulatives coming together to solve problems in context. Giving the children time to practice their fluency of mathematical skills and applying them to problem solving and reasoning challenges during a daily lesson develops deeper understanding and gives the children the tools they need to become competent and confident mathematicians over time.

In all mathematics lessons, this is what you might typically see:

• Happy and engaged learners
• Self-motivated children
• Word problems
• Different representations of calculations
• Paired/group work – lots of collaboration
• Engagement and perseverance
• Children challenging themselves
• Children talking about, sharing and reflecting on their learning

Reading and Maths

What has maths got to do with reading? If your child is struggling to read, they aren’t going to be able to access the curriculum. Lots of the questions and problems children have to solve in maths are written down and the children need to be able to read them. So, please support your child with all of their learning by hearing them read each night. We have plenty of books in our classrooms and library which support our maths curriculum as well as inspiring your child to enjoy and achieve in maths.

Assessment in Mathematics

Assessment has to serve a purpose and teachers are continually assessing your child in all types of ways so they can help them progress with their learning. In every maths lesson, teachers are questioning and discussing with pupils to find out what they do or do not know so that they can give them the right support. Every 2 or 3 weeks, all pupils in Key Stage One and Key Stage Two complete an ‘end of unit check’. This informs the teacher about how well each pupil has retained the knowledge and skills taught. All pupils complete a more in-depth summative assessment 3 times a year. This data is kept on record to track your child’s progress as they learn through the year. The tests also show the children what fantastic progress they have made and what they need to learn next.

At St Luke's we follow the Power Maths scheme of work:

Multiplication Tables Check - Year 4

In June, year 4 children are required to complete the multiplication tables check (MTC). This is statutory for all year 4 pupils in England.

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.

To prepare for the MTC, in year 4 we practise our times tables every day, recapping previously taught tables and learning new ones, such as the 6 times table. Children also have access to Times Tables Rockstars, an online based programme that allows children to practise their times tables through games. More than that, the clever code behind the scenes works out which times tables facts each pupil is consistently taking longer to answer and then it gradually starts to present these facts more frequently until pupils have mastered them. It will also ask related division questions 20% of the time in order to reinforce division facts.

We will be conducting practice MTC tests in the spring term to support children’s confidence in their times tables and see where any gaps in their knowledge may be.

To support your child, here is a link to a fantastic site that allows you to practise the format for the MTC:

https://www.timestables.co.uk/multiplication-tables-check/

Times Tables

Please find below our times tables long term plan. This outlines which times tables are taught in each year group. .

Have a look on Twitter at the fantastic maths going on at St Luke's: #Stlukesburymaths

How can I support my child’s learning?

As soon as your child starts school you can help your child with maths using everyday items found in the home. Examples include; building things with bricks as this is a good way of developing maths skills through solving problems, talk about times of the day, spot patterns and shapes in the house, practise forming numbers and count everything!

In order to consolidate learning, pupils in Key Stage One and Key Stage Two are given a weekly homework task that links to the learning that is currently taking place in their maths lessons. St Luke’s currently subscribe to a few online resources that are free for your child to use. Each pupil has access to ‘Times Tables Rock Stars’ in order to practice their rapid recall of times tables. Teachers also regularly assign work on ‘Mathletics’ that is aligned to the learning that is taking place in school and each pupil has access to this digital platform too. There are loads of other things that you can do to get your child to think and talk mathematically as they get older. As much as possible, we want them to use any mathematical vocabulary they learn in class. A few examples of this could be; ask your child if they can help you find the best deal for your car insurance, work out which supermarket deal is cheapest when out shopping, work out differences in time for when a TV programme starts. Everyday tasks like these help your child to recognise and understand maths in real life and solve problems in the world around them - giving maths a sense of purpose.