Maths
Curriculum Intent
Mathematics is a creative and highly inter-connected discipline that has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems. It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy. Crucially, a sound knowledge of mathematics is vital for young people seeking employment, and securing a qualification in mathematics is a fundamental requirement for the majority of employers.
A high-quality mathematics education therefore 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.
In line with the National Curriculum Objectives for Mathematics, our intent is that all pupils:
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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
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reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language
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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
Curriculum Implementation
At Reculver, children study mathematics daily following the Power Maths Scheme of Learning. This is a blocked scheme, which allows for depth and breadth of learning within each strand of mathematics. We also supplement using resources from the NCETM and White Rose.
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Fluency, Reasoning and Problem Solving: Every learning session includes the opportunity to develop fluency skills, construct chains of reasoning using relevant knowledge alongside relevant terminology and solve increasingly complex problems in a systematic and coherent way.
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Mathematical Vocabulary: Sessions include explicit reference to vital mathematical vocabulary and the use of stem sentences to support and encourage all children to communicate their ideas with mathematical precision and clarity. These sentence structures often express key conceptual ideas or generalities and provide a framework to embed conceptual knowledge and build understanding.
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We are committed to ensuring that pupils secure their knowledge of Times Tables and Related Divisional Facts by the end of Year 4. Our pupils engage in regular low stakes testing through Times Tables Rock Stars to practice fluent recall. We also teach times tables on a regular basis throughout the key stages
- Fluent recall is also supported throughout the school as we use various "flashback" technics to recap prior learning
Curriculum Impact
At Reculver, the expectation is that the majority of pupils will move through the programmes of study at broadly the same pace. We aim for each child to be confident in each yearly objective and develop their ability to use this knowledge to develop a greater depth understanding to solve varied fluency problems as well as problem solving and reasoning questions.
However, decisions about when to progress should always be based on the security of pupils’ understanding and their readiness to progress to the next stage. Pupils who grasp concepts rapidly are challenged through rich and sophisticated problems before any acceleration through new content. Those who are not sufficiently fluent with earlier material consolidate their understanding, including through additional practice, before moving on. Where necessary, earlier material should consolidate their understanding, including through additional practice, before moving on.
Formative Assessment: Teachers carry out formative assessment through AfL in each session and feedback is given to children verbally, through self/peer assessment and through marking. Teachers then use this assessment to influence their planning. Children are rapidly identified as needing further challenge or additional support, and we ensure that this is provided in a timely manner.
Timely Interventions: Teachers believe that all children can achieve in maths, and focus on whole class teaching. Where prerequisites are not secure, timely interventions will be carried out. As a school, we invest in targeted therapies and interventions to secure and develop knowledge and teach gaps using PiXL. Following forensic diagnostics, teachers and support staff access suitable therapies for whole class and small group teaching to ensure that all children reach their full potential.
Subject Monitoring: We regularly monitor the quality and impact of our mathematics curriculum through targeted learning walks, book scrutiny and pupil interviews. In addition to this, we survey our staff and pupils to identify their perception of mathematics and identify CPD needs.
Our results are published annually through the link on our website.
Central to our approach are the 5 Big Ideas which underpin mastery in mathematics.
Click on the headings below to find out more:
Coherence
Teaching is designed to enable a coherent learning progression through the curriculum, providing access for all pupils to develop a deep and connected understanding of mathematics that they can apply in a range of contexts.
Representation and Structure
Teachers carefully select representations of mathematics to expose mathematical structure. The intention is to support pupils in ‘seeing’ the mathematics, rather than using the representation as a tool to ‘do’ the mathematics. These representations become mental images that students can use to think about mathematics, supporting them to achieve a deep understanding of mathematical structures and connections.
Mathematical Thinking
Mathematical thinking is central to how pupils learn mathematics and includes looking for patterns and relationships, making connections, conjecturing, reasoning, and generalising. Pupils should actively engage in mathematical thinking in all lessons, communicating their ideas using precise mathematical language.
Fluency
Efficient, accurate recall of key number facts and procedures is essential for fluency, freeing pupils’ minds to think deeply about concepts and problems, but fluency demands more than this. It requires pupils to have the flexibility to move between different contexts and representations of mathematics, to recognise relationships and make connections, and to choose appropriate methods and strategies to solve problems.
Variation
The purpose of variation is to draw closer attention to a key feature of a mathematical concept or structure through varying some elements while keeping others constant.
- Conceptual variation involves varying how a concept is represented to draw attention to critical features. Often more than one representation is required to look at the concept from different perspectives and gain comprehensive knowledge.
- Procedural variation considers how the student will ‘proceed’ through a learning sequence. Purposeful changes are made in order that pupils’ attention is drawn to key features of the mathematics, scaffolding students’ thinking to enable them to reason logically and make connections.
