At Horbury Primary Academy, we offer our children a rich and enjoyable experience in mathematics by providing the knowledge, skills, concepts and processes that are appropriate to each individual and that relate to the world around them. We make explicit links between real life problems, as this will develop an understanding of mathematical concepts. Maths is a life skill and we try to ensure that real life contexts and links to other curriculum areas are used as frequently as possible.
In our Foundation Stage, Mathematics is supported throughout all areas of provision, both indoors and outdoors. We believe that our children need to develop a strong grounding in number in order to develop the necessary building blocks to excel mathematically. Our children should be able to count confidently; develop a deep understanding of the numbers to 10 and explore and represent patterns within these numbers.
Our provision is mathematically rich, and our children’s learning is contextualised as we provide a range of real-life experiences such as baking, songs, stories, construction and shopping. To ensure our children have a solid understanding of the basic mathematical concepts in the EYFS Statutory Framework, we use White Rose Maths to help plan our provision as it allows for key mathematical concepts to be revisited and developed further across the year.
In KS1, the learning embeds the skills taught in Foundation stage. The children are exposed to a broader curriculum, which underpins the four number operations, as well as being introduced to new concepts such as learning to tell the time, position and direction and money. The use of manipulatives in their learning is key and develops their understanding through problem solving and reasoning. In Year 1, learning becomes embedded through continuous provision and independent challenges.
In Years 1 – 6, we use White Rose Small Steps of Learning to help plan our provision. We also incorporate CLIC in our daily teaching. Weekly Doctor Doctor Challenge questions allow the children to apply and deepen their learning and mathematical reasoning. We will promote Maths throughout school through meaningful working walls within the classroom and around school. Metacognitive approaches to learning are modelled by teaching staff, to show how to effectively plan, monitor, evaluate and make changes to their learning behaviours. Teachers model how to articulate their thinking when tackling mathematical concepts using sentence stems and pupils are trained to work in this way to deepen their understanding and embed knowledge. The use of the 6 B’s and ‘Little B’s’ scaffold the children’s thinking process and aid independent thinking and learning.
Through their mathematical journey, we encourage all children to develop a positive and confident attitude towards Mathematics, which will enable them to achieve their full mathematical potential.
Throughout the course of their time at our school, we provide opportunities for children to use maths in context, reinforcing the purpose of real-life Maths:
- Counting the profits from bake sales and fundraising days
- Number Day
- Cooking (weighing out the ingredients and increasing the amounts) in Classroom Kitchen sessions
- Stay and play in Maths
- Learning how to manage their own money (Y6 life life skills)
- Y6 Fiver Challenge Fair. The Y6 children ‘grow £5’ to make a profit and the school community buy their products
Class teachers are supported in a range of ways:
- Clear non-negotiables for Maths and guidelines for the progression of their subject in their year group
- Termly Pupil Progress Meetings to discuss children’s progress and achievement and address any concerns
- A dedicated Maths team that drives their subject, keeping up to date with new initiatives and developments in an ever-evolving subject.
- Training sessions for staff on developing reasoning skills, physical activity linked to maths (Big Maths; Bar Modelling; SuperMovers; PE coordinator organised staff training for TagTiv8 and Orienteering; TTRockStars)
- Opportunities to moderate with year group partners and across the MAT.
