Maths

Why do we teach Maths?

Decisions in life are often so based on numerical information. We use maths in every aspect of our lives at work and in practical everyday activities at home and beyond: when we go shopping or plan a holiday, decide on a mortgage or decorate a room. Good numeracy is essential to prepare children for a life outside school. By ensuring children acquire appropriate maths skills, can reason and problem solve, we are increasing their future chances of employment, wealth, social and emotional & physical health.

At Chapelfield, we aim for our children to be numerate and able to reason mathematically, giving them an understanding of the world. We will give opportunities to apply their maths skills across other subject areas. The importance of problem solving and investigative work is emphasised to help children apply what they have learnt in a variety of situations. We encourage children to learn their number bonds and multiplication tables to provide them with the necessary skills to solve problems through our ‘Solve it’ Crew approach. Our ‘Solve it’ Crew introduces strategies for children to problem solve and follows a progression of strategies. For more information, please look at our progression of problem solving document below:

Problem solving progression at Chapelfield

Parents/carers also have a vital role to play in helping their child acquire maths skills at home, for example through playing dice and sorting games, or by taking their child shopping with them!

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 non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.

How do we approach Maths at Chapelfield?

Maths is taught daily using the White Rose Maths Hub Scheme of learning to ensure coverage and progression. This scheme was chosen as it clearly sets out for teachers how each objective can be taught through fluency, reasoning and problem solving. It clearly states how the objective links into prior learning and key questions that teachers will need to ask their children. This is supportive to teachers as a focal point for their lessons and models the expected outcomes. Throughout the week pupils have the opportunity to learn, use and apply what they have been learning in an open –ended/reasoning way involving real life maths. We believe that in order for pupils to be confident mathematicians, they need a firm foundation and concrete understanding of number and mental maths strategies and so pupils are encouraged to explain and prove their workings. Lessons will also be adapted to suit the needs of the class to ensure consolidation of learning before moving on.

Alongside White Rose Maths, teachers use our Visual Calculation Policy to help children understand the formal methods of calculation. We feel it is vital children understand how formal methods of calculation work and the Visual Calculation Policy breaks down calculation methods. Please see the link below to see what our Visual Calculation Policy and which strategies are taught in the different year groups.

Chapelfield Primary VCP

Chapelfield Primary VCP Split by Year Groups

Within our school, we ensure that each unit starts with a review of the previous term’s learning, an initial assessment. Teachers use this as an opportunity to pick up on any gaps and misconceptions within the classes’ learning and to challenge those learners who have already grasped the concept. Challenge is provided with deepening the understanding of skills rather than moving children onto the next objective. The unit is then followed with a final assessment to show areas which may need to be targeted during early maths sessions.

Assessment

Assessment in KS1 and KS2 includes immediate feedback from the teacher in orange highlighter and, where relevant, children’s subsequence response in a green pen. Teaching Assistants mark in a purple pen. This formative assessment is used to plan subsequent teaching and learning. 
The use of initial and final assessments for each unit are used to support teachers formative judgements made during each unit. At the end of each term, children will complete a NFER assessment which provides summative feedback for the teacher.
Children assessed as not grasping concepts quickly as others in the main maths lesson receive short intervention groups or are specifically targeted by the class teacher in the following lesson / early maths sessions. Children who have gaps in their learning or are working at levels below the age-related expectation for their year group are highlighted on the Pupil Provision Map and interventions are set up to ensure they have the opportunity to catch up with their peers.
All interventions are monitored for their impact regularly together with the SENCO and Maths lead to ensure maximum impact on progress.

Maths in the Early Years.

In the Early years, we use Development matters and the EYFS mathematics program of study to guide our long, medium and short term planning. We also refer to White Rose Maths Hub Scheme of Learning and NRICH to support these. There is a heavy emphasis on developing mathematical language through sorting, matching and comparing as well as exploring pattern and the ability of subitize objects and images (for instance 5 and 10 frames and dice patterns). Maths themes and ideas are taught 4 afternoons a week with the children being able to subsequently self-select from a range of indoor and outdoor activities. Learning is linked to topics covered in class. Assessment is continuous through initial and final assessments, although for summative assessment we refer to the ELG and the exemplification materials.

Useful Links:

Below are some links for more detailed information about Maths at Chapelfield:

• Maths-Early-Years-Overview-2022-2023 download_for_offline
  download_for_offlineMaths-Early-Years-Overview-2022-2023
• Maths-Policy-2021-Chapelfield download_for_offline
  download_for_offlineMaths-Policy-2021-Chapelfield
• Yearly-Overview-and-Autumn-Scheme-of-Learning-Y1 2 download_for_offline
  download_for_offlineYearly-Overview-and-Autumn-Scheme-of-Learning-Y1 2
• Yearly-Overview-and-Autumn-Scheme-of-Learning-Y2 3 download_for_offline
  download_for_offlineYearly-Overview-and-Autumn-Scheme-of-Learning-Y2 3
• Yearly-Overview-and-Autumn-Scheme-of-Learning-Y3 4 download_for_offline
  download_for_offlineYearly-Overview-and-Autumn-Scheme-of-Learning-Y3 4
• Yearly-Overview-and-Autumn-Scheme-of-Learning-Y4 5 download_for_offline
  download_for_offlineYearly-Overview-and-Autumn-Scheme-of-Learning-Y4 5
• Yearly-Overview-and-Autumn-Scheme-of-Learning-Y5 6 download_for_offline
  download_for_offlineYearly-Overview-and-Autumn-Scheme-of-Learning-Y5 6
• Yearly-Overview-and-Autumn-Scheme-of-Learning-Y6 download_for_offline
  download_for_offlineYearly-Overview-and-Autumn-Scheme-of-Learning-Y6