At Stuart Road Primary Academy we have high expectations for every child. Teaching for mastery in Maths is essentially the expectation that all pupils will gain a deep understanding of the Maths they are learning. For understanding in Maths to be secure, learning needs to be built on solid foundations. A mastery approach to the curriculum means pupils spend far longer on key mathematical concepts whilst working at greater depth. Maths teaching for mastery rejects the idea that a large proportion of people ‘just can’t do maths`. All pupils are encouraged by the belief that by working hard at maths they can succeed. Pupils are taught through whole-class interactive teaching, where the focus is on all pupils working together on the same lesson content at the same time. This ensures that all can master concepts before moving to the next part of the curriculum sequence, allowing no pupil to be left behind.
If a pupil fails to grasp a concept or procedure, this is identified quickly and early intervention ensures the pupil is ready to move forward with the whole class in the next lesson. Long term gaps in learning are prevented through speedy teacher intervention and those children who grasp the concepts more quickly are given opportunities to deepen their knowledge and improve their reasoning skills rather than accelerating on to new curriculum content.
Daily maths lessons are taught in small steps from the NCETM. Using the NCETM curriculum design ensures a coherent and detailed sequence of essential content to support sustained progression over time. Lesson design identifies the new mathematics that is to be taught, the key points, the difficult points and a carefully sequenced journey through the learning. We develop children’s learning across all strands of maths through a variety of approaches. We provide children with concrete manipulatives to secure their understanding of place value. As they develop as mathematicians, they are expected to use both pictorial and written methods as outlined in our whole school calculation policy. To help children succeed in maths, there is a strong focus on developing maths fluency and arithmetic skills.
Fluency is promoted through IT programs such as TT Rockstars and Numbots and daily fluency sessions. This allows children to monitor their own progress, motivate themselves and practice essential elements. Children are also encouraged to use MyMaths (both at home and in school) to further consolidate learning.
Our daily fluency sessions focus on the key instant recall facts- please see more information below. In EYFS and KS1, we are also following the Mastering Number programme which aims to equip KS1 teachers with the skills and knowledge to ensure that all children leave KS1 with strong, deep and flexible understanding of the number system. In KS2, we have a daily times tables focus called `Multiplication Challenge` using the Claire Christie approach to learning times tables. There are 36 key facts to learn as shown in ‘Mathematics guidance: key stages 1 and 2 Non-statutory guidance for the national curriculum in England’
All Maths objectives are revisited multiple times within and across key stages, ensuring that the learning sequence is correct and that children are always building on and embedding previous knowledge and understanding. Pupils are given frequent opportunities to revisit previous learning in different and new contexts thereby allowing for greater depth of understanding. Teachers are making sure that learning is revisited and embedded not only within a term or year, but also over a key stage; inter- and intra- curricular links are used to encourage connected learning; and children are provided with a range of rich, experiential learning opportunities which both inspire and challenge.
Problem solving is central and opportunities are given for pupils to calculate with confidence, ensuring an understanding of why it works so that pupils understand what they are doing rather than just learning to repeat routines without grasping what is happening. The use of precise mathematical language enables pupils to communicate their reasoning and thinking effectively. A high-quality Mathematics education therefore provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.
If you would like any help or advice about how to develop your child's or your own knowledge of the Maths curriculum please see me (Mrs Ioja) or your child's teacher.
Mrs Ioja
Maths Coordinator
How will KIRF home learning work?
Every half term, your child will be set home learning which focuses on a particular set of KIRFs. This will be shared via email but will also be available on our school website under the maths section. You will see that each KIRF home learning sheet explains what the focus is for the half term and gives examples of the key facts that need to be learnt, as well as key vocabulary and questions to ask your child and top tips for learning them. Learning KIRFs shouldn’t be time-consuming. In fact, KIRFs can be practised anywhere: in the car, walking to school, at the dinner table. The most important thing is facilitating regular practice. Little and often will support your child in retaining these facts for the long term! If you wish, please submit evidence of your child learning their half-termly KIRFs via school email; it would be lovely to celebrate your child success. Children will also be taught their KIRFs in school as they always have been; however, each half term, extra attention will be paid to the KIRF focus, as part of our fluency sessions. Teachers will also assess the children to make sure they are being retained.
We thank you for supporting your child in developing as a confident mathematician. We strongly believe that with factual fluency, your child will become much more confident when working with number and be able to access the curriculum year-on-year with more confidence and enjoyment.
EYFS Autumn Term 1.pdf
Year 1 Autumn Term 1.pdf
Year 2 Autumn Term 1.pdf
Year 3 Autumn Term 1.pdf
Year 4 Autumn Term 1.pdf
Year 5 Autumn Term 1.pdf
Year 6 Autumn Term 1.pdf
EYFS Spring Term 1.pdf
Year 2 Spring Term 1.pdf
Year 1 Spring Term 1.pdf
Year 3 Spring Term 1.pdf
Year 5 Spring Term 1.pdf
Year 4 Spring Term 1.pdf
Year 6 Spring Term 1.pdf
EYFS Spring Term 2.pdf
Year 1 Spring Term 2.pdf
Year 2 Spring Term 2.pdf
Year 3 Spring Term 2.pdf
Year 4 Spring Term 2.pdf
Year 5 Spring Term 2.pdf
Year 6 Spring Term 2.pdf
Books That Promote Maths
Children love stories; they are used to spark their interest in writing and to support their understanding of different genres of writing. So, why not use them to spark their interest in mathematics as well?
It is really important to develop a child’s capacity to act as mathematicians from an early age. To help nurture this development it is important to ask children to:
Describe – What can you see? What can you say?
Explore – What do you think?
Invent – What are you going to try now?
Experiment – I wonder if…?
Recognise patterns – Can you see what comes next?
Conjecture – I wonder what would happen if…?
Guess – Do you have any idea whether…?
Visualise – What would you see if…?
Below are lists of books which promote maths, they have been organised into the different phase groups. Some of the books have a specific mathematical theme running through them; but for some of the books the maths is not immediately obvious. If you would like any support in how best to use these books with your child, please contact Mrs Ioja.