Intent
At Fairstead Community Primary and Nursery School we aim to inspire an enjoyment for Mathematics through a positive attitude, curiosity and discovery. We empower our children with a ‘CAN DO’ attitude because every child is a capable mathematician with the ability to reason and problem solve. Staff and children ambitiously create a culture of deeper understanding, confidence and competence in maths through the provision of high quality teaching materials and resources. This creates an environment that produces strong, secure learning and real progress so all pupils can enjoy and achieve in mathematics and become confident mathematicians. We aim for children to show an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, linking their learning experiences, and applying their knowledge to the world around them for the rest of their lives!
Implementation
At Fairstead, maths forms an important part of daily life. We follow a mastery curriculum, which sets out to inspire and challenge learners of all prior abilities. We believe all children can do maths, and by incorporating a growth mind set culture in day to day teaching, this is a belief shared by all in our school community. We achieve our vision by:
- The provision of a spiral mastery curriculum enabling children to build on secure foundations of prior knowledge.
- Having enthusiastic teachers who develop a culture of challenge and learning from mistakes.
- Providing a safe, inclusive and positive learning environment, which is empowering for everyone involved.
- Equipping children with a growth mind set to tackle mathematical problems.
- Using a CPA (concrete, pictorial, abstract) approach to support children’s conceptual understanding.
- Using Times Tables Rockstars to make learning times tables facts fun and engaging for all.
- Use of Power Maths to provide a consistent, challenging and engaging whole school approach to maths teaching and learning, which builds on prior attainment to support new learning and the development of skills.
- Following a thorough whole school calculation policy ensuring that methods used build on those taught before them, working alongside the CPA approach.
- Focusing on mathematical language enabling children to verbalise their ideas and reason with increasingly complex concepts.
- Developing the classroom environment, including working walls and the provision of concrete resources, to support children in their independent practice.
- Providing Children with SEND with a high quality provision in maths, using a tailored approach to suit their particular needs.
- Promoting Fluency in maths in all aspects of the curriculum, allowing teachers to use pockets of time to develop children’s knowledge and understanding of the building blocks of maths, such as numbers bonds and times tables facts.
- Encouraging children to explore and explain their mathematical thinking through the use of stem sentences, developing their metacognitive abilities.
- Using continuous provision in EYFS to build on the learning explored through whole class and small group sessions, securing knowledge and deepening understanding.
Impact
Maths will have a lifelong impact on pupils. At Fairstead, as a core skill, it is important to us that we have a secure understanding of children’s attainment. At our school, we regularly assess pupils at the end of units using Power Maths, to understand children’s grasp of concepts and highlight areas for further provision. This ensures that no children are left behind and that gaps in learning are acknowledged and addressed. During each term, summative assessment forms our basis for tracking progress through the mathematics curriculum. At the end of each Key Stage, children undertake statutory assessments in line with government guidance and the results of these are used to monitor the school’s performance and inform future targets in the subject. Teachers use formative assessment in their day to day teaching to target support and offer challenge to all pupils, this is through the ‘reflect’ at the end of Power Maths lessons, during live marking and observation in the classroom. Every lesson, children have an opportunity to reflect and demonstrate their understanding of the core concepts covered. This enables them to also assess their progress and develop their own targets.