Intent
Maths is a journey from which many start at different places. At The James Oglethorpe Primary School our intention is that children foster a love of mathematical learning, whatever their ability or starting place and that they are able to confidently use and apply mathematical concepts across a variety of situations. We expect children to clearly articulate their ideas and thoughts and reasoning processes, enabling deeper learning. We expect children to make mistakes, analyse them and learn from them, justifying and explaining as they do this. At each stage of learning, children should be able to demonstrate a deep, conceptual understanding of the topic and be able to build on this over time.
Implementation:
At James Oglethorpe, we follow a Mastery for Maths curriculum using White Rose Maths Hub resources. A mathematical concept or skill 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. This means that children are not streamed by ability because we expect all children to be given the opportunity to achieve age related expectations. Mastery teaching provides our children with the time to acquire a deep and transferable understanding of mathematical concepts. We appreciate how important it is for our children to become fluent in all aspects of calculation, therefore, one session per week is dedicated to practicing arithmetic/times tables through ‘Arithmetic Fridays’.
The curriculum is broken down into different levels of challenge which children can progress through, to mastery of that concept. Through the use of ‘Marking Stations’ All children are expected to ‘self-mark’ their problems and either move on to a more complex challenge, or to try and unpick where they have gone wrong, either through using a resource, alternative method, or through teacher support.
The white rose resources:
- have numbers at their heart. A large proportion of time is spent reinforcing number to build competency
- ensure teachers stay in the required key stage and support the ideal of depth before breadth.
- ensure students have the opportunity to stay together as they work through the schemes as a whole group
- provide plenty of opportunities to build reasoning and problem solving elements into the curriculum.
Concrete – Pictorial – Abstract:
White Rose is built on the belief that all children, when introduced to a new concept, should have the opportunity to build competency by taking this approach.
- Children should have the opportunity to use concrete objects and manipulatives to help them understand what they are doing.
- Alongside this, children should use pictorial representations. These representations can then be used to help reason and solve problems.
- Both concrete and pictorial representations should support children’s understanding of abstract methods.
The curriculum is broken down into larger chunks to ensure there is the opportunity to teach the depth needed for mastery. Each unit is broken down into small steps. Breaking the curriculum down into small manageable steps should help children understand concepts better rather than trying to cover too many concepts at once and this can lead to cognitive overload.
Impact:
- Learners who can clearly explain their reasoning and justify their thought processes
- Quick recall of facts and procedures
- The flexibility and fluidity to move between different contexts and representations of mathematics.
- The ability to recognise relationships and make connections in mathematics.
- Happy, confident, articulate and autonomous learners with a life-long passion for learning
Home Learning Links
For more information about what is taught in year group and for resources to support your child’s learning at home please visit the links below.
