Maths

Intent

At St Francis de Sales we focus on teaching for mastery, with the intent that all children leave our school enjoying and being successful at mathematics. Mastering maths means all children acquire a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of the subject. This is achieved using a range of pedagogical strategies, most notably small steps learning and careful variation of representations and questions. The school follows the Curriculum Prioritisation materials from the NCETM in Years 1 to 6; EYFS use Mastering Number at KS1 – an age-appropriate mastery curriculum. These are spiral curriculums that provide opportunities for the children to revisit concepts previously taught.

For children to become life-long learners of mathematics, it is important that they develop a shared language in maths. Children of all ages are expected to articulate their reasoning and explain their methods, using subject specific vocabulary modelled for them by the adults. This enables the children to deepen their understanding of mathematical concepts as well as develop their core language skills.

At St Francis de Sales, two of our core values are for our children to be resilient and aspirational. We strongly believe that the more mathematical knowledge a child gains, the greater the likelihood they will succeed at secondary school, further education and beyond. The curriculum is designed to provide the children with a solid understanding of number, particularly the four operations and place value, whilst also gaining a good grounding of all aspects of mathematics. We expect children to be fluent in their basic additive and multiplicative number facts and have a good grasp of all the key mathematical facts, ideas and methods. With this grounding, children should be confident about tackling any mathematical problem they are given.

Teachers collaboratively plan coherently sequenced units of work based on the Curriculum Prioritisation materials. The sequence of the medium-term (unit) plans is reviewed and edited by the teachers planning and delivering those lessons, based upon prior knowledge, previous experience teaching that unit and handover notes from previous teachers. The sequence of long-term plans is reviewed by the maths lead, but any editing to the sequence is a collaborative process between the maths lead and the relevant teachers, to ensure their remains a coherent learning journey for the children.

The sequencing of key concepts and core maths skills is aligned with that outlined in the National curriculum; however, this is then broken down into individual year groups to ensure that children acquire skills and knowledge in a coherent order and at an appropriate pace.
For example, the National curriculum states that children in EYFS and KS1 need to develop additive fluency:

• In Reception, the focus is on developing subitising and counting skills; exploring the composition of numbers within 5 and beyond; compare sets of objects, identifying equal and unequal; begin connecting quantities to numerals.
• In Year 1, the focus is on the composition of numbers within 10 and eventually 20; the position of numbers in the linear number system; addition and subtraction structures with the introduction of expressions and equations.
• In Year 2, the focus is on composition of numbers 11-20; reasoning about the position of 2-digit numbers in the linear number system; multiples of 10; the midpoint of 100 and 50; applying knowledge of calculating within 10 to calculate within 20.

Implementation

At St Francis de Sales we use an adaptive teaching approach, which aligns with Ofsted’s latest findings (Research review series: mathematics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)), where pupils move through the curriculum at broadly the same pace, and learn broadly the same things.

Research shows that early exposure to the basics of mathematics is a significant predictor of later success (Early Math Trajectories: Low‐Income Children's Mathematics Knowledge From Ages 4 to 11 - Rittle‐Johnson - 2017 - Child Development - Wiley Online Library), so at St Francis de Sales we ensure with have ‘maths rich’ environments, which expose children to structures, patterns and relationships within mathematics. This provides the children with a systematic provision of sequenced core content, which become the building blocks of later success.

The curriculum is ambitious for all; sufficient time is dedicated to children acquiring foundational knowledge through explicit teaching, rehearsal, independent practice and retrieval, which should reduce the need for knowledge to be relearned or forgotten entirely.

Nursery – A focus session of up to 10 minutes daily + continuous provision
Reception – Mastering Number at KS1 session of 10-15 minutes daily + continuous provision
KS1 - Mastering Number at KS1 session of 10-15 minutes daily + core maths lesson of up to 45 minutes
Lower KS2 – Multiplication Table fluency session of 10-15 minutes daily + core maths lesson of up to 60 minutes
Upper KS2 - Fluency (Additive or Multiplicative) session of 10-15 minutes daily + core maths lesson of up to 60 minutes

This approach should enable the children to become proficient in recalling and applying core knowledge with accuracy and speed, eventually reaching automaticity. Reaching automaticity with core knowledge greatly reduces cognitive load, meaning that children are more able to absorb new learning. It is also important for the children to have clear, efficient and accurate methods for the four operations, which they will hone and refine over time, meaning they do not become reliant on previously taught, inefficient methods. As children progress through the curriculum, they will develop their ability to combine these methods and facts to tackle more complex problems, eventually leading to an abstract level of understanding.

All children have an entitlement to the core curriculum, which includes problem solving, however proficiency in reading, a key component of children being able to access word problems, can be a significant barrier. For this reason, alongside subject specific vocabulary being explicitly taught, learning is carefully scaffolded and manipulatives are used extensively, but to help ‘unlock the mathematics’, focusing on mathematical relationships as opposed to external memory device. Furthermore, problem solving is topic-specific, and planned into the sequence of lessons, which ensures it is more inclusive and reduces the possibility of gaps emerging.

Impact

Progress in maths is tracked in both formative and summative ways. Through discussions within lessons, teachers listen to children’s thoughts and understanding on their current topic. When maths books are marked, teachers gain further understanding of how the child has understood a concept individually. End-of-unit assessment questions are suggested in the Curriculum Prioritisation materials; teachers use these to assess children’s progress across a whole topic. Finally, formal assessments are sat three times a year for KS1 and KS2, in the autumn, spring and summer.

For those children who fall behind, we have a variety of support to catch them up to their peers. A small group of children who cannot access the curriculum for their year group may be taught separately from the mixed ability groups. The content of their lessons starts from where they currently are, and then aims to progress quickly back onto their year group through systematic instruction and rehearsal. In KS1, the Mastering Number scheme provides one catch-up session per week to provide additional practice for those children who are falling behind their peers. A number of teachers and TAs deliver weekly after-school, free-of-charge, learning clubs to a selection of children who could benefit from extra support.

The adaptive teaching model means that a more subtle level of differentiation is going on within the classroom. The teacher’s focus is no longer on ‘how can this lesson be differentiated for groups of children’, but ‘how can this lesson be taught in a way that all children will understand it’. As teaching for mastery is concept-based, the children are encouraged to find connections and think deeply about concepts. All children are challenged; however, a teacher may plan different levels of questioning, different follow-up tasks, or simply some additional practice for those who may have quickly grasped a concept.

At St Francis de Sales we offer regular training to support staff with their maths teaching. INSETs are delivered by the Maths Lead (a Primary Mastery Specialist with the NCETM) as well as additional ongoing training from the NCETM for Mastering Number lead teachers. The NCETM provide PD materials which complement their Curriculum Prioritisation materials, which greatly enhance teachers’ subject knowledge. Newer staff or those that are less confident teaching maths are offered team teaching with the Maths Lead who plan, teach and evaluate lessons together to improve their practice. Each Year Group has PPA together, which provides the teachers with the opportunity to plan collaboratively.

Whole School Overview

Curriculum Maps for each year group

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

Numeracy Glossary

Numeracy Glossary for Parents

TimesTables