Intent
At Ightham Primary School, we value mathematics as a key life skill. Our mathematics curriculum develops a love of mathematics to help all pupils know more, remember more and understand more. We ensure mathematics is prioritised to ensure that pupils access the full curriculum each year. We aim to ensure a rigorous and sequential approach to the mathematics curriculum which develops pupils’ fluency, confidence, enjoyment and application. We base our curriculum on the concrete, pictorial and abstract method. This is a progression in Mathematics based on extensive research. Mathematics equips pupils with the uniquely powerful set of tools to understand and change the world. These tools include logical reasoning, problem solving skills and the ability to think in abstract ways.
At Ightham, we ensure that mathematics is incorporated throughout all subjects in the curriculum, enabling pupils to understand its relevance and importance within everyday life. It is integral to all aspects of life and with this in mind we endeavour to ensure that all children develop a positive and enthusiastic attitude towards mathematics and a secure understanding that will remain with them.
Implementation
Organisation
At Ightham, we ensure there is continuity, progression and high expectations for attainment in mathematics. Mathematics is taught discretely to all pupils from Reception to Year 6 on a daily basis. Each lesson incorporates a mental maths session and fluency, reasoning and problem solving opportunities. The expectation is that the majority of pupils will move through their respective programmes of study at broadly the same pace, with both scaffolded and deeper learning opportunities provided in all lessons. 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.
How Maths is taught
The National Curriculum for mathematics (2014) describes in detail what pupils must learn in each year group. Combined with our Calculation Policy, this ensures continuity, progression and high expectations for attainment in mathematics.
Mathematics is an interconnected subject in which pupils need to be able to move fluently between representations of mathematical ideas. The programmes of study are set out for each year group for Key stages 1 and 2 and are, by necessity, organised into distinct domains. At Ightham Primary School, we ensure children make rich connections between mathematical concepts, and also apply their mathematical knowledge across other subjects.
At Ightham, our ‘Teaching for Mastery’ approach ensures that pupils move through their respective programmes of study at the same pace. The use of ‘small steps’ within mastery teaching will enable pupils to have a secure and deep understanding of each step before progressing to the next. All pupils experience challenge through ‘rich’ and ‘deep’ problem solving and reasoning tasks. Interventions ensure that where necessary, additional practice allows children to consolidate their understanding.
Ightham Primary School uses the White Rose Maths Mastery scheme of work across the school. EYFS and KS1 classes also follow the NCETM ‘Mastering Number’ programme with a daily focus on number fluency. Years 4 and 5 follow the NCETM ‘Mastering Number’ programme with a daily focus on multiplication and division.
Teaching of Multiplication
Multiplication is taught discretely.Ightham Primary School uses ‘Times Table Rock stars’ daily for all children in Years 2-6 to support fluency and recall of times tables and related divisions.
Further Information
We have fidelity to the White Rose Maths scheme for our day-to-day work in Mathematics.
Maths is taught daily. Skills, reasoning and problem-solving are interwoven in maths lessons for all children, every week.
The Concrete Pictorial Abstract (CPA) approach is a system of learning that uses physical and visual aids to build a child’s understanding of abstract topics.
Pupils are introduced to a new mathematical concept through the use of concrete resources (e.g. Numicon, place value counters, Dienes blocks etc). When they are comfortable solving problems with physical aids, they are given problems with pictures – usually pictorial representations of the concrete objects they were using.
Then they are asked to solve problems where they only have the abstract i.e. numbers or other symbols. Building these steps across a lesson can help pupils better understand the relationship between numbers and the real world, and therefore helps secure their understanding of the mathematical concept they are learning.
Each lesson begins with a mental and oral starter that may include use of the class counting stick.
Times Tables Rock Stars
TT Rock Stars is a carefully sequenced programme of daily times tables practice. Each week concentrates on a different times table, with a recommended consolidation week for rehearsing the tables that have recently been practised every third week or so. This format has very successfully boosted times tables recall speed for hundreds of thousands of pupils over the last 7 years in over 4500 schools – both primary and secondary – worldwide. At Ightham, we’ve decided to help boost our own children using this programme. Here’s to rocking and rolling our way to times table success.
All children from Years 1 to Year 6 should have a TT Rockstar login from their class teacher. You can access the website through this link: