Vision
At Springfield Community Primary School, we empower our children with a positive learning attitude of “having a go” and “resilience” in mathematics. We encourage children to develop their knowledge and understanding of mathematics and aim for all pupils to enjoy and achieve in mathematics, ultimately becoming confident mathematicians.
Intent
At Springfield Community Primary School we view Mathematics as a tool for everyday life; a network of concepts and relationships which provide a way of viewing and making sense of the world. We aim to teach children how to make sense of the world around them by developing their ability to calculate, reason and solve problems. We foster analytical minds and confident communicators of information and ideas to tackle a range of practical tasks and real-life problems. We therefore believe it is important to ensure all children have the best possible mathematics opportunities, including as a cross-curricular learning tool.
We aim to embed the 5 Principles of Mastery throughout our lessons. To ensure lessons are coherent, they are broken down into small, connected steps that gradually unfold the concept, providing access for all children and leading to a generalisation of the concept and the ability to apply to a range of concepts. Representations are used in lessons to expose the mathematical structure being taught, with the aim to be that pupils can do the maths without recourse to the representation. Mathematical thinking encourages the pupils to think, reason and discuss ideas and strategies within their classroom environment. Pupils become fluent mathematicians through quick and efficient recall of facts and procedures and the flexibility to move between different contexts and representations of mathematics. Variation is built on over a sequence of lessons and represents concepts in more than one way.
We aim for children to develop:
- A positive attitude towards mathematics.
- Competence and confidence in mathematical knowledge, concepts and skills.
- An ability to solve problems, to reason, to think logically and to work systematically and accurately.
- Initiative and an ability to work both independently and in cooperation with others.
- An ability to communicate mathematically.
- An ability to use and apply mathematics across the curriculum and in real life.
- An understanding of mathematics through a process of enquiry and experiment
Implementation
Teachers use the Red Rose Scheme of Learning resources to support the careful planning of each small step for each unit. It is underpinned by the concrete, pictorial, abstract (CPA) approach. Classrooms have a range of mathematical resources made available for children in each key stage. These include, but are not limited to, Numicon, Base 10, place value counters, bead strings, number lines, digit cards and hundred squares. Varied starting points and timely teacher interventions are utilised in response to Teachers’ ongoing formative assessments through effective deployment of support staff.
Children access regular use of ‘TT Rockstars’ and ‘Numbots’ within school and at home which enables children to practise key number facts.
Throughout each lesson, formative assessment takes place and feedback is given to the children through marking. Teacher’s then use this assessment to influence their planning and ensure they are providing a mathematics curriculum that will allow all children to progress. The teaching of maths is monitored on a regular basis through regular book looks, learning walks and lesson observations. Each term, children complete a summative assessment to help them to develop their testing approach and demonstrate their understanding of the topics covered, using Red Rose End of Term checks. Year 6 also use previous SATs papers. The results from both the formative assessment and summative assessment are then used to determine children’s progress and attainment.
We implement our approach through quality first teaching and the delivery of appropriately pitched work for all groups of learners supported by the materials from Lancashire’s Red Rose Maths Scheme of Learning.
When teaching Mathematics, we use the six phases of a lesson.
STARTER
INITIAL PROBLEM
GUIDED LEARNING TASK 1
GUIDED LEARNING TASK 2
INDEPENDENT LEARNING TASK
DEEPER LEARNING TASKS
Impact
Through discussion and feedback, children talk enthusiastically about their mathematics lessons and speak about how they enjoy learning about mathematics. They can talk about the mathematics being taught and relate this to real-life purposes. Children show confidence and believe they can learn about a new mathematics area and apply the knowledge and skills they already have.
Pupils know how and why mathematics is used in the outside world and in the workplace. They know about different ways that mathematics can be used to support their future potential. Children demonstrate a quick recall of facts and procedures. This includes the recollection of the times table.
Pupils use acquired vocabulary in mathematics lessons. They have the skills to use methods independently and show resilience when tackling problems
If a pupil fails to grasp a concept or procedure, this is identified quickly, and gaps in understanding are addressed systematically to prevent them falling behind. The Red Rose Mathematics assessments are used as a summative assessment at the end of every term.
All children secure a long-term, deep and adaptable understanding of mathematics which they can apply in different contexts.
