Wilberfoss C of E Primary SchoolMaths
Maths at Wilberfoss - The Big Picture!
At Wilberfoss, children will understand the importance of mathematics, how it interconnects to other areas of the curriculum and relates to their lives and futures. Daily arithmetic practice will develop their fluency and confidence with number. They will build their skills moving from concrete objects to pictorial representations, allowing them to have a greater understanding of the abstract. Fundamental to this will be making connections and becoming fluent in their understanding of different mathematical ideas, having opportunities to consolidate their understanding and reasoning as well as being challenged through rich and sophisticated problems. Children will develop a sense of enjoyment, resilience and curiosity about maths.
Intent
In EYFS, the curriculum guidance for mathematics (EYFS Progression Document) is followed and teaching is supported by Mastering Number (NCETM) and White Rose Maths (starting in F2). Children are encouraged to develop positive attitudes and interests in mathematics and will start to develop confidence in number through provision, short session teaching and adult directed activities. In Years 1-6, we follow the White Rose Maths schemes of learning and medium-term planning, using their premium resources to deliver and resource our lessons. A strong understanding of concrete, pictorial and abstract representations is embedded in our maths curriculum. Children have opportunities to consolidate their learning, reason and problem solve and develop their use of mathematical vocabulary. By the end of Year 6, pupils will become more fluent in their use of mathematical vocabulary and independent in their reasoning and problem solving skills. Topics are sequenced across the year and opportunities are given for prior learning to be revisited to ensure it can be used to support new ideas and concepts.
In KS1 and 2, all pupils will receive a 1 hour daily maths session, in addition to a daily four operations input (15 minutes) which focuses on recently taught arithmetic with an additional opportunity to reason and problem solve (see daily four operations proforma). The focus for our daily four operations lessons is driven by gaps identified in the termly NFER tests and end of block White Rose Maths assessments.
In KS2, all children have a daily times table fluency session. The programme develops recall of 36 core multiplication facts. Fluency in these facts provides the foundation for all written and mental multiplication and division. New facts are introduced and taught visually through the conceptual lessons, and aurally through the chanting of verbal sound patterns. Facts are learned to fluency through daily practice sessions with scores tracked daily and targeted support provided where needed.
In EYFS and KS1, all children have regular mastering number sessions. These aim to secure firm foundations in the development of good number sense for all children from Reception through to Year 1 and Year 2. The aim over time is that children will leave KS1 with fluency in calculation and a confidence and flexibility with number.
We believe that all children should engage with the curriculum for their year group, where appropriate. Pre-teaching and same-day intervention are in place to ensure that all children can engage with the key learning and consolidate their understanding. The mastery approach we follow is designed to ensure that all children can follow the pace of learning with support where required. As maths is part of our everyday lives, we endeavour for our pupils to become independent, happy and resilient mathematicians whose skills are developed through maths but also support them across the curriculum. Maths has clear links with other areas of the curriculum, including the STEM subjects; we ensure these links are made clear to children when teaching.
Implementation
A typical maths lesson comprises three parts. The first part is an interactive starter, linked with prior knowledge, lasting around 5 minutes. This is an opportunity to recap previously taught content linked with the upcoming lesson, allowing children to build confidence and make connections. The main teaching input will then follow and ensure that vocabulary is taught and children have opportunities to follow the CPA approach (concrete, pictorial, abstract). White Rose Maths premium workbook resources are used and supplemented with additional resources where needed. There is a range of challenge activities available to children when they have completed their tasks or consolidated their learning. In upper KS2, children will self-mark their work to recognise their mistakes and make any corrections. Same-day intervention and response tasks are used to allow any misconceptions to be dealt with in a timely manner.
The maths leader supports all teachers and new members of staff where necessary. As we follow the WRM schemes of learning, their units of work provide teachers with learning objectives, vocabulary and key questions for each small step, to help them deliver and resource each lesson. We have also delivered maths mastery training to all teaching staff to help underpin the understanding of our approach.
We use formative assessment each lesson as a continual and powerful form of assessment for learning and make notes of these on our whole class feedback sheets. Through the use of questioning and mini-whiteboards, we are able to make assessments of pupils’ understanding during the lesson which then informs our planning and allows misconceptions to be immediately addressed. Daily marking of the pupils’ books also allows for this monitoring.
Impact
In EYFS, children are continually assessed and misconceptions are addressed immediately or through ‘Feeding Forward’ where these can be dealt with through provision enhancements or adult led activities. In Years 1-6, in addition to the daily formative assessment we do, children are assessed at the end of each unit and term. When each White Rose Maths unit is completed, children undertake an end of block assessment which informs the teacher of each child’s understanding of that particular topic; this will then inform any future interventions which are needed to ensure the children have understood a concept. Each term, every child undertakes an NFER assessment which provides standardised scores and helps the class teacher to identify gaps in understanding. The scores from these assessments will be inputted into Insight and with this, the teacher will use these and daily formative assessments to make a judgement of whether the child is on track to be expected standard by the end of the year. The subject lead will have an overview of this whole school data to track the progress and attainment of cohorts which allows for analysis of strengths and areas of development across classes.
The subject leader will meet with pupils as part of regular monitoring. The purpose of these sessions is to explore what the children have learnt and what they can remember, as well as whether they’re enjoying their maths lessons and how well they think they are doing in the subject. This will then inform any feedback that the subject leader can share with other members of staff and identify any areas of development for the subject. This is used alongside regular learning walks, book looks and discussions with teaching staff. Monitoring is often undertaken with the maths link-governor.
Calculation Policies
One of the most common things that parents and grandparents comment on is the changes in methods for solving calculations. By clicking the link below, you will be able to see how children in each year are taught to calculate, and also how the progression across the school works.
White Rose Maths Calculation Policy
What does the long term plan look like for each year group?
(Click on each block and then select Scheme of Learning to view - no subscription needed)
Click here to see more in detail about what your child is learning this term. You can see examples of how we teach concepts and examples of question types.
Year 1 - https://whiterosemaths.com/resources?year=year-1-new
Year 2 - https://whiterosemaths.com/resources?year=year-2-new
Year 3 - https://whiterosemaths.com/resources?year=year-3-new
Year 4 - https://whiterosemaths.com/resources?year=year-4-new
Year 5 - https://whiterosemaths.com/resources?year=year-5-new
Year 6 - https://whiterosemaths.com/resources?year=year-6-new