Radcliffe Primary School

Maths

Intent

Mathematics at Radcliffe Primary is a creative and highly inter-connected subject, underpinned by the three statutory aims of the National Curriculum: fluency, reasoning and problem solving.

Our intent is for all children to become fluent mathematicians, who are able to confidently recall and apply mathematical knowledge and demonstrate conceptual understanding. We aim for all of our children to be proficient users of mathematical language, which will support them in their mathematical reasoning in different contexts. Our ambition is for children to become competent problem solvers, through applying their mathematical knowledge to wide range of problems, in maths lessons, other subjects and in ‘real life’.

Implementation

In Mathematics, we implement an inclusive curriculum that meets the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum. We use ‘White Rose Maths’ as a spine in KS1 and KS2, to support our planning and teaching of Maths and in Early Years we are guided by the ‘Birth to 5’ document.’ We supplement this with a wide range of other high-quality teaching and learning resources, which include: NCTEM, Nrich, Primary Stars, Classroom Secrets, Deepening Understanding and Grammarsaurus.

Each day, children complete a ‘Flashback 4’ related to previous learning, to strengthen children’s retention of knowledge. A series of stimulating lessons are planned, with clear learning objectives, to develop fluency, reasoning and problem solving and the use of subject-specific vocabulary.

Our Maths curriculum is delivered through highly effective ‘quality first teaching’. All children, when introduced to a key new concept, have the opportunity to build competency in this topic. Children are encouraged to physically represent mathematical concepts using concrete resources, pictorial (models and images) to demonstrate and visualise abstract ideas, alongside numbers and symbols.

Concrete - Examples include structural apparatus such as cubes, counters, 3D shapes or weighing scales as well as contextual objects such as teddies or coins for counting or sorting.

Pictorial - Examples include children’s own mark making and simple drawings, sketches, number lines and diagrams.

Abstract - Examples include young children’s emergent graphics, early number formation, number sentences and written expanded methods.

Fluency is a fundamental of mathematics, ensuring that pupils have conceptual understanding and are able to recall and apply their knowledge rapidly and accurately. 

Children become confident in the two types of fluency:

Conceptual fluency, e.g. exploring the five strands of place value, (counting, recognition of cardinal numbers, knowing what each digit in a number represents, understanding our base-10 structure and exchanging), what an equivalent fraction is and identifying key features of different representations of data.

Procedural fluency, e.g. +- x ÷ calculation methods linked to whole numbers, fractions and decimals and exploring step by step mental and written methods.

Children are given regular opportunities to recall known facts, develop number sense, know why they are doing what they are doing and know when it is appropriate and efficient to choose different methods and will apply skills to multiple contexts e.g. multiplying and dividing by 10 to convert units of measurements.

Reasoning and problem solving is planned and interwoven into the mathematics curriculum.

Reasoning questions are explicitly taught and modelled through the use of discussion, maths partner talk, manipulatives, written words using ‘stem sentences.

The five types of problem solving are ‘two step word problems’, ‘finding all possibilities’, ‘finding rules and describing patterns’, ‘diagram problems and visual puzzles’ and ‘logic problems.’  The type of problem-solving activity is carefully selected to match the objectives being taught.

Impact 

The school has a respectful and supportive ethos and our approaches support the children in learning and developing their collaborative and independent skills, verbal skills, as well as empathy and the need to recognise the success and achievement of others. Regular and ongoing assessment informs teaching, as well as intervention, to support and enable the success of each child. These factors ensure that we are able to maintain high standards, with achievement at the end of KS2 and a high proportion of children demonstrating greater depth.