Youlgrave, All Saints' CE Primary School’s aim is to create a positive, challenging and stimulating environment, in which they feel supported as individuals and their skills are celebrated.

Our core purpose is:

To develop resilient and inspired learners who are aiming to reach their full potential. We do this by providing a welcoming, safe and inclusive environment which is underpinned by our WE CARE values. To ensure that the curriculum meets the needs of our children, our school values and our community, as well as statutory requirements, we have threaded our WE CARE values throughout our curriculum to ensure that it is unique for our learners and we offer our children the memorable experiences that they need to inspire them to believe in themselves. Our curriculum is inspiring, ambitious, motivational and progressive to ensure our children develop a love of learning and have the bravery to tackle new learning.

Why we teach Maths – purpose of study.

The 2014 National Curriculum for Maths aims to ensure that all children:

•         Become fluent in the fundamentals of Mathematics

•         Are able to reason mathematically

•         Can solve problems by applying their Mathematics.

Maths is the language we use to find patterns and understand the world around us. It has provided the solutions to some of history's most intriguing problems. Maths is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering as well as being fundamental for most jobs.

Mathematics is a fundamental part of human thought and logic, and integral to attempts at understanding the world and ourselves. Mathematics provides an effective way of building mental discipline and encourages logical reasoning and mental rigor. In addition, mathematical knowledge plays a crucial role in understanding the contents of other school subjects such as science, social studies, and even music and art.

Intent

At Youlgrave, All Saints’, these skills are embedded within Maths lessons and developed consistently over time. We are committed to ensuring that children are able to recognise the importance of Maths in the wider world and that they are also able to use their mathematical skills and knowledge confidently in their lives in a range of different contexts.

We want all children to enjoy Mathematics and to experience success in the subject, with the ability to reason mathematically. We are committed to developing children’s curiosity about the subject, as well as an appreciation of the beauty and power of Mathematics.

They will spend time becoming true masters of content, applying and being creative with new knowledge in multiple ways. We aim for all pupils to:

 • become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics so that they develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.

• be able to solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of problems with increasing sophistication, including in unfamiliar contexts and to model real-life scenarios

• reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry and develop and present a justification, argument or proof using mathematical language.

• have an appreciation of number and number operations, which enables mental calculations and written procedures to be performed efficiently, fluently and accurately to be successful in mathematics.

 Implementation

What do we teach? What does this look like?

Our whole curriculum is shaped by our school vision which aims to enable all children, regardless of background, ability, additional needs, to flourish to become the very best version of themselves they can possibly be. We strive to provide an exciting adventure of fun and challenge where all children develop a love of learning and an empowering sense of self-belief.

We teach the National Curriculum, supported by a clear skills and knowledge progression. This ensures that skills and knowledge are built on year by year and sequenced appropriately to maximise learning for all children. Support is determined during each lesson to ensure secure understanding based on the needs of the child.

Challenge is visible throughout the whole session, where children are asked to reason and prove their understanding at a deeper secure level.

To ensure consistent planning across school, we use White Rose Maths as a planning resource and use high quality resources to plan lessons. New concepts are shared within the context of an initial related problem, which children are able to discuss in partners. This initial problem-solving activity prompts discussion and reasoning, as well as promoting an awareness of maths in relatable real-life contexts that link to other areas of learning.

In KS1, these problems are almost always presented with objects (concrete manipulatives) for children to use. Children may also use manipulatives in KS2. Teachers use careful questions to draw out children’s discussions and their reasoning. The class teacher then leads children through strategies for solving the problem, including those already discussed. Independent work provides the means for all children to develop their fluency further, before progressing to more complex related problems.

Mathematical topics are taught in blocks, to enable the achievement of ‘mastery’ over time. Each lesson phase provides the means to achieve greater depth, with more-able children being offered rich and sophisticated problems, as well as exploratory, investigative tasks, within the lesson as appropriate.

Differentiation is achieved by emphasising deep knowledge and through individual support and intervention.

•         Teaching is underpinned by methodical curriculum design and supported by carefully crafted lessons and resources to foster deep conceptual and procedural knowledge.

•         Practice and consolidation play a central role. Carefully designed variation within this builds fluency and understanding of underlying mathematical concepts.

•         Teachers use precise questioning in class to test conceptual and procedural knowledge and assess children regularly to identify those requiring intervention, so that all children keep up.

Impact

What will this look like?

By the end of KS2 we aim for children to be fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics with a conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately. They should have the skills to solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of situations with increasing sophistication, including in unfamiliar contexts and to model real-life scenarios.

Children will be able to reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry and develop and present a justification, argument or proof using mathematical language.

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.

TT Rockstars

TT Rockstars is a fun and educational way to learn and practice times tables. By the end of Spring term, Year 4 children are expected to know all their times tables facts (from 1-12 times tables) and the DfE has introduced a test to for all Year 4 children to assess their knowledge of times tables facts.

All children have a username and password to access TT Rockstars. Below is a parents guide if you would like to know more. Please contact me in school if you have any questions about TT Rockstars.

Maths is fun!

Below are some websites that provide maths activities, games and puzzles for you to try.