Maths
Our curriculum lead for maths is Mr Milsted.
Intent
At Coombe Road Primary School, we teach our children how to make sense of the world around them by developing their ability to calculate, reason and solve problems. We want our children to recognise and understand relationships and patterns in numbers in the world around them
Our children have access to high quality lessons that are both challenging and enjoyable. We provide a variety of mathematical learning opportunities, which enable them to make the connections needed to enjoy greater depth in learning.
We also ensure that our children are confident mathematicians who are not afraid to take risks. We fully develop independent learners with inquisitive minds who have secure mathematical foundations and an interest in self-improvement.
Implementation
At Coombe Road Primary School:
- Daily maths lessons are planned and sequenced so that new knowledge and skills build on what has been taught before. Teachers follow the White Rose maths schemes of work
- Where appropriate, we incorporate the key structures and ‘small steps’ approach to lessons in line with our maths mastery training.
- We invest in Times table Rockstars to boost the children’s enjoyment of learning multiplication facts. Each child has their own account and can compete with other pupils around the school.
The National Curriculum times tables expectations are:
- Year 1 – To Count in multiples of 2,5,10
- Year 2 – To Recall multiplication & division facts for x2,x5,x10
- Year 3 – To Recall multiplication & division facts for x3,4,8
- Year 4 - To Recall multiplication & division facts up to 12x12
- Years 5 and 6 – To Recall multiplication & division facts up to 12 x 12
Our units of work are structured using the headings as they appear in the National Curriculum:
- Number and Place Value
- Addition and Subtraction
- Multiplication and Division
- Fractions (including decimals and percentages)
- Ratio and Proportion
- Measurement
- Geometry - properties of shapes
- Geometry - position and direction
- Statistics
Our children are encouraged to physically represent mathematical concepts. Objects and pictures are used to demonstrate and visualise abstract ideas, alongside numbers and symbols:
- Concrete – children can use concrete objects and manipulatives to help them understand and explain what they are doing
- Pictorial – children then build on this concrete approach by using pictorial representations, which can then be used to reason and solve problems
- Abstract – with the foundations firmly laid, children can move to an abstract approach using numbers and key concepts with confidence.
The main aim of all lessons is to develop children’s knowledge, understanding and skills, applying these to a variety of contexts. One of the key elements in lessons throughout the school should be on developing the children’s mental calculation strategies alongside developing the children’s written calculation strategies.
Each class has a 15-minute fluency starter at the beginning of each maths lesson and currently the whole school is focusing on table facts. We also believe in active learning and have regular maths focused ‘Brain Breaks’ using BBC Supermovers.
All children in the Early Years Foundation Stage have daily opportunities to develop their mathematical understanding, primarily through play, to meet the needs of Development Matters. The two strands of Mathematics taught in the EYFs are Numbers and Shape, and Space and Measure.
Impact
At Coombe Road School we expect that by the end of year 6 our children:
- become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics;
- reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations; and
- solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication.
