MATHS

As mathematicians Muschampions will learn to confidently embrace mathematics as an important and essential part of everyday life.  Children will become confident and fluent in the fundamental skills of mathematics, learning to reason and solve problems by applying these skills.  Wherever possible mathematics learning will be embedded into real life scenarios to empower children to use and apply their skills and knowledge.   

Aims

• To confidently use number and skills to reason and solve problems
• To use mathematical vocabulary accurately to discuss, reason and problem solve
• To recognise maths in everyday life 
• To develop the enjoyment and confidence to become excellent mathematicians 
• To develop a positive and resilient attitude towards mathematics and a fascination of mathematics.

The purpose (intent) of mathematics in our school is to develop: 

• positive attitudes towards the subject and awareness of the relevance of mathematics in the real world – above all else, we want children to enjoy maths.
• competence and confidence in using and applying mathematical knowledge, concepts and skills. 
• an ability to solve problems, to reason, to think logically and to work systematically and accurately. 
• initiative and motivation to work both independently and in cooperation with others. 
• confident communication of maths where pupils ask and answer questions, openly share work and learn from mistakes. 
• an ability to use and apply mathematics across the curriculum and in real life. 
• an understanding of mathematics through a process of enquiry and investigation. 
• an appreciation of how our maths has derived from a wide and far reaching range of people, places and cultures.
• to incorporate and promote the diversity of our maths.

Teachers planning and organisation (implementation)

Long term planning 

The National Curriculum for Mathematics 2014 and the Early Learning Goals (Number, Shape Space & Measure) provide the long term planning for mathematics taught in the school. 

Medium term planning 

Years 1-6 use the Solve Maths schemes of learning as their medium term planning documents. 

These schemes provide teachers with exemplification for maths objectives and support the fluency, reasoning and problem solving, key aims of the National Curriculum. The structure ensures a complete coverage of the NC and enables children to develop links between the different strands of maths. There is also an emphasis on regularly revisiting concepts to also ensure they are embedded. Y1 also make use of the White Rose Maths Hub materials.

Short term planning 

Teachers plan in units of work, in line with the medium term planning. We have a daily sheet which can be used to support planning, however, we have recently taken the decision to move away from a written record of the plan. Instead, we feel that the time and effort is better spent on ‘planning’ the lesson and focusing on creating a structure to reflect the carefully thought out steps and resourcing. The chronology of the lesson is generally recorded on interactive white board slides.

We also have a detailed calculation policy, which provides very clear and progressive steps taken in the teaching and learning related to the 4 operations. 

Impact 

The school has a supportive ethos and our approaches support the children in developing their collaborative and independent skills, as well as empathy and the need to recognise the achievement of others. Students can underperform in maths because they think they can’t do it or are not naturally good at it. We aim to address these misconceptions by ensuring that all children experience challenge and success in maths by developing a growth mind-set. Regular and ongoing assessment informs teaching, as well as intervention, to support and enable the success of each child. These factors ensure that we are able to maintain high standards, with achievement at the end of KS2 well above the national average and with a good proportion of children demonstrating greater depth, at the end of each phase.