Intent

Heage Primary School believes that mathematics is a key skill in school and a life skill to be utilised through everyday experiences. A high-quality maths education provides a firm foundation for understanding how maths is used in everyday life and activities, developing pupils’ ability to reason mathematically.

At Heage Primary School, we teach maths through a mastery approach. We hold the belief that all pupils are capable of learning mathematics and believe in supporting our pupils through the curriculum by allowing pupils to have a rich diet of fluency, reasoning and problem solving activities, alongside a range of concrete and pictorial resources.

Our teachers model and encourage:

• A positive attitude towards maths and an awareness of the relevance of maths in the real world;
• A process of enquiry and experiment;
• Thinking logically in order to work systematically and accurately;
• A balance of collaborative and independent working;
• Competence and confidence in pupils’ maths knowledge, concepts and skills.
• An appreciation of the creative aspects of maths and an awareness of its aesthetic appeal.

In the majority of cases, we ensure that pupils are accessing their year group objectives and provide challenge by exploring concepts further and deepening understanding. Pupils will be given the time to fully embed a concept before moving on to ensure they are completely secure. Each area of the curriculum is visited once throughout the year explicitly but learning is planned to build on previous learning, with the opportunities for pupils to make links across the breadth of the curriculum by ensuring that previous learning is met continuously through the representations our pupils meet throughout the year.

Implementation

Lessons are planned using the White Rose Scheme which adheres to the objectives detailed in the National Curriculum Mathematics Programmes of study for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 as well as the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage.

Before the start of each unit, teachers will use a pre-assessment to find starting points/baselines for each child.

Lessons will be planned in small steps, based on these starting points, using the White Rose planning to support; however some steps may need to be broken down further or revisited in order to fully embed the learning. Within most mastery lessons pupils will have access to a range of fluency, reasoning and problem-solving activities.

• The start of the lesson allows pupils to retrieve previously taught content and build skills needed for the session ahead.
• The main part of the lesson will be delivered in small steps which builds towards the main objective of the lesson. This will be a chance for pupils to explore a concept, talk in detail about it with their talk partner and collaborate to solve problems. Pupils will see the concept of the lesson presented in context rather than a set of procedures and tricks to be taught. This is usually presented in the form of a real-life problem.
• The role of the teacher is to provide deep questioning, to enable the pupils to demonstrate deep understanding and securely embed the concept. Examples of effective questions stems include: How do you know…? Why do we do…? Do you agree that…? What if…? What’s the same? What’s different? What can you see?
• Teachers will also use “Stem sentences” to embed the learning.
• During the main part of the lesson, teachers are constantly assessing to see where further support for a concept is required. This may be given through adult support or a practical or pictorial resource to aid learning.
• Pupils in Years 1 to 6 will complete a task independently to showcase what they have learnt during the taught session, using the White Rose Work Booklets.

At the end of each unit, teachers will use the End of Block Assessments from the White Rose website as a post-assessment.