Maths
Our maths curriculum aims to inspire, engage and challenge pupils and develop the key skills they need to become fluent and confident mathematicians. Pupil will have good understanding of the different areas of maths, how they connect to each other and the vocabulary linked to them, and can use this knowledge and understanding to calculate, reason and problem solve.
Children are encouraged to develop maths as a transferable skill, making links between the maths they do in their lessons and how they can apply it to real life situations in their daily routines and in the world around them.
Our Intent is that all pupils gain a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of the maths in their year group’s curriculum. This means that a child has mastered a concept when they can represent it in a variety of ways and consider effective solutions to problems involving this subject. Integral to this is the school’s vision for mathematics which aligns with the belief that ‘everyone can learn and enjoy mathematics.’
How we teach maths
Our curriculum is implemented through high-quality, progressive materials that ensure a consistent structure across the school. Children are introduced to new concepts following a concrete, pictorial, abstract approach. Every maths lesson will have a link with prior learning to ensure children recognise the relationships between different mathematical facts and concepts. Each unit builds in small steps to encourage children to make connections. Further broadening of learning is provided to all children through use of problem solving, including those linked with real-life contexts. Pupils revisit concepts, meaning they absorb learning within their long-term memory.
Rivermead uses The White Rose Maths scheme of learning to support the teaching of the National Curriculum. This begins in Reception and continues through to year 6 and allows clear progression and consistency throughout the school. Learning is delivered in small steps that build a solid mathematical understanding.
White Rose Maths can be used as a targeted intervention to re-teach and revise key concepts from any year group and it can also be used on a 1:1 basis for children with additional learning needs. In addition to this, the school utilises programmes from ‘Number Sense Maths’ to support with number fact and times table fluency. This is predominantly used up to Y4, but can also be used as a targeted intervention for specific gaps. In upper Key Stage 2 (Years 5 and 6), children have a targeted arithmetic session to support long-term memory retrieval.
The Essence of Mathematics Teaching for Mastery.
Impact
Children are assessed on the knowledge and skills they have retained in their long-term memory. Through formative and summative assessment teachers ascertain the confidence, knowledge and skills the children have with the maths National Curriculum. Teachers plan opportunities to assess the children’s long-term memory through planned assessments during maths lessons. Along with day-to-day observations, we use end of block assessments from White Rose and NTS termly assessments in Years 1-6 to monitor the children’s progress. Teachers in these year groups track the pupils’ learning through National Curriculum assessment grids.
Addition and Subtraction Calculation Policy