Maths
Mathematics is a creative and highly inter-connected discipline that is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy. A high-quality mathematics education 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.
When teaching mathematics at Kings Worthy Primary, we intend to provide an enjoyable, purposeful, and memorable education for all pupils so that they can be successful learners, equipped with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes they need for the world in which they live, and achieve their full potential.
At Kings Worthy, we deliver an inclusive mathematics curriculum to meet the needs of and provide challenge for all pupils through high-quality problems with opportunities to develop fluency and reasoning skills, which are embedded consistently over time. A wide variety of resources and activities are used, and children are encouraged to explore maths in depth, making links that they can use to reason and explain their work.
Pupils are taught how to use and manipulate concrete resources to understand mathematical concepts before establishing ways to represent their understanding in pictorial and formal methods. Through high levels of challenge and varied problems, resilience is encouraged, and children understand that mistakes are a valuable part of their learning, as well as understanding the value and importance of maths in the wider world.
The national curriculum for mathematics aims to ensure that all pupils:
- become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.
- reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language
- can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and nonroutine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.
The expectation is that the majority of pupils will move through the programmes of study at broadly the same pace. Pupils who grasp concepts rapidly should be challenged through being offered rich and sophisticated problems before any acceleration through new content. Those who are not sufficiently fluent with earlier material should consolidate their understanding, including through additional practice, before moving on.
White Rose & The Mastery Approach
Mastery maths means pupils acquiring a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of the subject. The phrase ‘teaching for mastery’ describes the elements of classroom practise and school organisation that combine to give pupils the best chances of mastering mathematics. Achieving mastery means acquiring a solid enough understanding of the mathematics that’s been taught to enable pupils to move on to more advanced material.
At Kings Worthy, we largely follow the White Rose schemes of learning where strands of mathematics are taught as blocks. This allows children the time to acquire a deep understanding of the concepts introduced before moving on to the next. Spending a longer time on new concepts ensures that all children are given the opportunity to succeed and learning can be moved on at a pace that is suited to the individual.
If you would like to find out more about what unit your child is working on, please use the relevant links below.
Additional information on White Rose can be found on their website:
https://whiterosemaths.com/resources/primary-resources/
Fluency & Number Facts
The national curriculum requires that children become fluent in mathematics. Although this includes being able to make links, knowing the most appropriate methods for the task at hand, and being able to apply skills to multiple contexts, it also includes having the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately. Therefore, each year group has a set of number facts that the children are required to become confident in, and be able to use and recall rapidly. If you would like to know more about what number facts your child will be working on and what you could work on at home, please use the relevant links below.
TTRockstars
All children from Year 2 – 6 (and all of the teachers!) have a TTRockstars login which they can use at home and at school. Children can earn coins and points, send challenges to peers and teachers, and work as a team in group competitions.
MyMaths
Pupils from Year 2 – 6 have a MyMaths login which can be used at school and at home to consolidate their learning. MyMaths can also be used to set and submit homework quickly and easily online.