Intent:
Maths is a skill we use on a daily basis and is an essential part of everyday life. Therefore, at St Peter & St Paul Carbrooke Primary Academy and Nursery, mathematics forms an important part of our broad and balanced curriculum. We endeavour to ensure that children develop an enjoyment and enthusiasm for maths that will stay with them throughout their lives and empower them in future life. We believe that unlocking mathematical fluency is an essential life skill for all learners and is a pre-requisite to being able to reason and solve problems mathematically.
Our aim is to develop a positive culture of deep understanding, confidence and competence in maths that produces strong, secure learning. As a school, we recognise that the key to unlocking the potential in our children is through the development of basic mathematical skills and the understanding of mathematical concepts. We therefore place great emphasis on the use of concrete resources and pictorial representations at all ages, to enable children to fully understand the concepts and principals, when presented with abstract calculations and questions. We use White Rose Maths for our curriculum, and therefore, it is progressive and allows children to make connections and solve increasingly sophisticated problems.
Implementation:
Our Maths curriculum provides breadth and balance, is relevant and engaging and is differentiated to match the needs and abilities of all our children to ensure that all pupils are able to excel. As a school, we believe in the importance of following the concrete-pictorial-approach as a means to developing a solid understanding of mathematical concepts which can be applied in a variety of contexts through reasoning and problem-solving challenges. Children receive a minimum of 5hours maths lessons each week with additional sessions devoted to number proficiency and times tables. From Reception to Year 6, children follow the scheme of ‘White Rose’ which supports children in learning the fundamentals behind the meanings of numbers and exploring other key mathematical areas. White Rose uses ‘small steps’ to break down the teaching sequence into small achievable chunks. Daily assessment is incorporated throughout the lesson through live marking and verbal feedback. End of Block assessments are used as a diagnostic tool to ensure that teachers are adapting learning to meet the needs of all children and ensure that any necessary interventions are targeted specifically to meet the needs of children. Times tables play an important part in our maths learning, with children developing their fluency in rapid recall of tables up to 12 x 12 by the end of year 4. While the rapid recall of times tables are being developed, children are also learning how to apply and manipulate their understanding of this to reason and solve problems. Children from Y2 – Y6 have the opportunity to practise their times tables using Times Tables Rockstars.
Impact:
By the end of Year 6, transitioning to secondary school, we aspire that a Carbrooke mathematician will have developed a bank of efficient and accurate skills that can be used to calculate effectively. These will have been underpinned by the Concrete-Pictorial-Abstract process so children understand rather than just do, which ultimately will allow children to identify when answers do not make mathematical sense. Children will be able to apply these calculation skills and understanding of other areas to become confident and resilient problem-solvers with the ability to reason and articulate their ideas mathematically.