Maths at Springwell 

The intent of our mathematics curriculum is to provide children with a foundation for understanding number, reasoning, thinking logically and problem solving with resilience so that they are fully prepared for the future. It is essential that these keystones of mathematics are embedded throughout all strands of the National Curriculum. By adopting a ‘Mastery approach’, it is also intended that all children, regardless of their starting point, will maximise their academic achievement and leave Springwell Park Primary School with an appreciation and enthusiasm for Maths, resulting in a lifelong positive relationship with number.  Behind all NCETM and Maths Hubs work in the field of teaching for mastery are Five Big Ideas, all informed by research evidence and classroom experience. The diagram below helps bind these ideas together.

Mastering maths means acquiring a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of the subject. At any one point in a pupil’s journey through school, achieving mastery is taken to mean acquiring a solid enough understanding of the maths that’s been taught to enable him/her move on to more advanced material.’

NCETM 2016

Throughout the curriculum great emphasis is placed upon basic skills, the 4 operations, problem solving, practical activities and mental and oral work. We aim to integrate fluency, reasoning and problem solving throughout every lesson, using a range of activities to challenge children at every level. Concrete resources are used from EYFS to year 6 to help develop an understanding, which are used alongside pictorial representations to help the children make connections with their mathematical learning. Alongside our daily maths lessons, children are involved in targeted maths sessions that are tailored to their specific needs or gaps in their understanding.

The National Curriculum for mathematics aims to ensure that all children

1. Become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that children have conceptual understanding and are able to recall and apply their knowledge rapidly and accurately.

2.Reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language.

3.Can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.

Our curriculum is designed so that children develop fluency and automaticity in all aspects of number and calculation. The security of their understanding of number and calculation allows them to make rich connections across mathematical concepts, to develop their mathematical reasoning and competence in solving increasingly sophisticated problems. They can then apply their mathematical knowledge to science and other subjects.

Our curriculum is designed to develop confident mathematicians who are not afraid to take risks and who are mathematically curious and continually seek to improve both proficiency and understanding.

Our implementation is developed through our use of the White Rose Hub scheme and our school calculation policy. Teachers carefully select content and plan sequences which build on prior knowledge and understanding.  Lessons are designed around the principles of concrete, pictorial and abstract (CPA), providing our pupils with the scaffolding required to develop their understanding and gradually become more familiar and fluent in working with abstractions. Teacher modelling and responsive questioning are fundamental to the pedagogy of typical lessons.

We have ensured that mathematics is a priority at Springwell Park by completing research-based planning – both weekly planning and long term. Our Medium-Term Plans (based on White Rose Maths), allow for small steps of progression throughout the year and are designed to ensure that the children have a deep sense of mathematical understanding. The maths action plan is created with school improvement in mind and this is monitored regularly. Our Medium-Term plans have been updated for the incoming academic year 2023-2024, giving appropriate time to key concepts or those we have learned that can be more difficult for children to grasp. The pace in Year 1 has been reduced and there are clearer links with the work done in Reception. These plans align even more closer to the DfE Ready-to-progress criteria. This scheme of learning is designed to support a mastery approach to teaching and learning, as well as to support the aims and objectives of the National Curriculum. Alongside this, we refer to the NCETM, Nrich, Testbase and Classroom Secrets to ensure the children have a broad and balanced curriculum, that offers challenge.

Lessons and additional maths sessions

Typically, Maths lessons are taught daily for approximately one hour.

In addition to our 'main maths lesson', children also have an additional maths session:

• Reception and Key Stage One, children have daily ‘Mastering Number at EYFS/Key Stage 1’ sessions, each about 10-15 minutes long. These aim to secure firm foundations in the development of good number sense for all children so that over time children will leave KS1 with fluency in calculation and a confidence and flexibility with number.

• Some children in year 2, who are ready, will move away from ‘Mastering Number’ to ‘Arithmetic’ sessions.  

• In Key Stage Two, children have daily ‘Arithmetic' sessions, each about 15 minutes long. Children practice arithmetic skills with a focus on making efficient choices, to ‘calculate mentally’, use ‘jottings’ or ‘use a formal written method’. Two of the sessions are 'counting stick' (to further their automaticity in number) and three of the sessions are '6 and a twist' - 6 arithmetic questions and a reasoning style question. 

• Children in Years 4 and 5 will be taking part in the 'Mastering Number at Key Stage 2' programme - commencing October 2023. This project enables pupils in Years 4 and 5 to develop fluency in multiplication and division facts, and a confidence and flexibility with number that exemplifies good number sense. 

Assessment

Assessment informs the teaching and learning sequence, and children who are not making the required progress are given extra support:

• 'Mop up Maths' - 'Mop up maths’ is timetabled in Springwell Park for four afternoon sessions a week for Years 2-6. These twenty minute sessions give the class teachers the time to work with a small group of children/whole class (depending on the children’s needs), to provide same-day intervention or in some cases, pre-teach. This is marked in the children’s book as ‘Mop-Up Maths’. Year 1 have two sessions of mop up maths per week - each twenty minutes. 

• 'In class support' - Extra support is also provided in class to ensure the children secure concepts and procedural knowledge that are essential to progression. Formative assessment within every lesson helps teachers to identify the children who need more support to achieve the intended outcome and who are ready for greater stretch and challenge through planned questioning or additional activities

• 'Weekly Maths Facts' - The children are given 'maths facts' to practice at home (relating to their learning in school) and are tested on them each Friday. Year 1 have practical in-class activities in the Autumn and Spring Terms - moving to written maths facts tests in the Summer Term. Years 2 - Year 6 have maths facts through Autumn, Spring and Summer Terms. The maths facts are mapped out for the year in the progression map which can be found in the 'maths curriculum bible' in the maths section on our website.

• 'Half Termly Times Tables Assessments' - From September 2023, teachers will be using ‘Multiplication Check’ on Maths Frame each half term to assess their pupils’ fluency. The questions will be set based on what the pupils have been taught and they will be given 6 seconds per question (in line with the Year 4 MTC). Our adaptive teaching will allow provision for all pupils to access this resource and extra time will be allowed, where needed.

        Aims:

        Teachers are able to gather data for each child over time.

        Teachers can see child specific responses and can create targeted interventions.

        Teachers can use the information to further inform their future lessons.

• Termly Assessments - Our children are currently assessed using NFER termly assessments and we are going to undertake the White Rose arithmetic and reasoning papers each term (commencing Autumn 2023) to further inform our interventions and future lessons. 

• Summative assessments - These are completed at the end of the academic year and help influence the overall judgement as to whether children are achieving in line with the curriculum. This is reported to parents in the end of year report.

We judge that a mathematical concept or aspect of procedural knowledge has been mastered when a child can show it in multiple ways, using the mathematical language to explain their ideas, and can independently apply the concept to new problems in unfamiliar situations.

Children succeed by showing that they can demonstrate quick recall of facts and procedures. This includes the recollection of the number bonds and times tables.  They develop the flexibility to move between different contexts and representations of mathematics. They show that they are increasingly confident to recognise relationships and make connections in mathematics.

Please view the progression map below for an overview of how maths is taught in our Early Years. Please also click the link below to visit our Early Years page.