Mathematics

“The only way to learn mathematics is to do mathematics” Paul Halmos, Mathematician

At Sleights, mathematics will provide children with practical, hands on learning opportunities to support their development and understanding of facts, methods and strategies. Based on curriculum principles of effective Early Years practice, maths at Sleights encourages children to think creatively, play, explore and problem solve.

At Sleights, we follow the ‘White Rose Hub’ Schemes of Learning across school. Children at Sleights experience opportunities for regular fluency, reasoning and problem solving tasks. These tasks are completed when exploring the entire mathematics curriculum, organised into a progressive long term plan over the children’s time at Sleights, supported by the non-statutory ‘Ready to Progress’ criteria (identified in White Rose Hub as ‘Small Steps’).

The curriculum leader for Mathematics is: Mr Grason-Taylor.

Mathematics at Sleights involves:

Practical opportunities to develop mastery in mathematics through fluency, reasoning and problem solving tasks.

Daily Key Skills teaching, focused on building, revising and securing the foundation skills in mathematics.

Times tables practise, through Key Skills work, focused on improving speed and accuracy of instant recall facts.

Children identifying their own level of challenge, based on the skills and understanding they have already gained.

Statement of Mathematics Intent

The children at Sleights will be provided with a mathematics curriculum offer designed to:

• build on and develop core mathematical concepts in a well sequenced and structured progression across their time at Sleights.
• support children’s acquisition and progressive understanding of declarative, conceptual and procedural mathematical knowledge.
• enable children to become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics.
• equip children to develop conceptual understanding recall and apply.
• provide opportunities for frequent and varied practise of reasoning and problem solving.
• allow children to gain and use a range of transferable key skills both in mathematics and across the full curriculum.
• offer opportunities for explicit teaching of problem solving activities.
• in line with our Growth Mindset philosophy, develop independent learners, who are confident and inquisitive to tackle mathematical problems.

Statement of Mathematics Implementation

Our approach:

Progression of skills and understanding is vital in the successful implementation of our mathematics curriculum. In order for children to progress, they need to have a firm understanding of facts (declarative knowledge), before developing methods (procedural knowledge) and implementing strategies (conceptual knowledge). Teachers ensure that children’s understanding of facts is secure, before developing and building on understanding of methods and strategies.

As a school, we recognise the importance of problem solving in mathematics and, therefore, children are provided with explicit opportunities for gaining these skills and knowledge.

Our Scheme of Learning:

The statutory programmes of study from the National Curriculum are taught through the school’s adopted ‘White Rose Hub’ Scheme of Learning. Clear progression of skills and concepts is identified with the scheme across Early Years, Key Stage One and Key Stage Two. In addition to the White Rose Hub programmes for Reception, our school has established its own bespoke curriculum, based on the secure understanding and knowledge of the expectations of mathematicians in the Early Years and beyond.

Using White Rose Hub materials, including ‘Small Steps’ (based on Ready to Progress Criteria), mathematics lessons at Sleights focus on learning facts, methods and strategies, which have been broken down into small steps. This ensures children deepen their knowledge and understanding of core concepts. The exploration of the types of mathematical knowledge (declarative/facts, procedural/methods and conditional/strategies) is made explicit to the children in teaching and learning.

Implementation Summary:

The statutory programmes of study from the National Curriculum are implemented at Sleights through:

• White Rose Hub Schemes of Learning in Early Years, Key Stage One and Key Stage Two.
• a bespoke Early Years curriculum, for children aged two to five, based on expectations set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework and White Rose Hub.
• daily mathematics lessons, consisting of key skills and knowledge development, focused on acquiring and building on mathematical facts, methods and strategies.
• quality first teaching, designed to meet the needs of all children.
• effective and purposeful use of a wide range of manipulative resources to support conceptual, pictorial and abstract understanding.
• ongoing development of the learning environment, including working walls, manipulatives and challenges.
• a robust and progressive approach to calculation and times tables.
• support for children with additional needs, through booster or intervention programmes.

Statement of Mathematics Impact:

Assessment for learning is fundamental to raising standards and enabling children to reach their potential. Assessment in mathematics takes place daily using a range of strategies such as marking and feedback, verbal discussions with children and response time.

In addition, children complete regular ‘low stakes’ assessments, to provide an ongoing overview of the impact of mathematics teaching. These assessments include end of teaching and learning block tests (from White Rose Hub) and weekly times tables tests.

Summative assessment activities are carried out at Sleights using the NTS test papers across Year 1 – 6. These are completed on a termly basis, with scaled score information being produced. This data is compared with children’s targets (set out by Fischer Family Trust 20). Teachers use assessment information to inform their future planning.

 

Key documents

Click the links below to open key documents related to Mathematics at Sleights. All documents are PDF format.

What is the document?	Click here to download	Why is it important?
Sleights Mathematics Policy		Our policy outlines our approach to mathematics, including details about our school’s intent, implementation and impact.
Times Tables Procedure	Times Tables at Sleights	This document outlines how, as a school, we approach the teaching of times tables, so that children are prepared for the end of Year 4 Multiplication Times Tables Check.

Supporting Mathematics at home

The table below details some of our recommended resources for supporting mathematics at home. The resources are used in school, as part of the children’s lessons, so should already be familiar to them. 

What is the resource?	How do I access this?	How will it support mathematics?
Sumdog	Children require a login from school. Please let us know if you need a reminder. Sumdog can be downloaded from ‘App stores’, or by following this link on a web browser: Sumdog Login Page	Children can access a range of games and activities, providing an opportunity to practise a variety of mathematical skills. Sumdog is also used for targeted times table practise and homework.
One Minute Maths (White Rose Hub)	One Minute Maths can be downloaded from ‘App stores’ and used on tablets.	Produced by ‘White Rose Hub’ (the producers of our school’s mathematics scheme), the One Minute Maths app provides practise opportunities, against the clock, for basic maths key skills.
Hit the Button	Hit the Button can be accessed on web browser, by visiting link here: Hit the Button link or by downloading the game as an app from your phones app store.	Focused on developing fluency and accuracy, Hit the Button provides a range of games to practise multiplication and division facts for chosen or all times tables.