Mathematics

Intent:

At East Claydon Church of England School, we strive to help our children master Mathematics and have embedded our mastery approach in all classes. To ensure that we remain up-to-date with new developments, we work closely with The Maths Hub. Through this, it allows us to reflect, develop and improve our practice regularly.

What does this mean for your child? 

• A secure belief that if you work hard, everyone can succeed at Maths.
• A fascination and enjoyment of Maths as a subject in which all children can achieve and be successful.
• An ability to use and apply Maths effectively in everyday situations, using specific mathematical vocabulary confidently and accurately.
• Fluency and confidence in mathematical knowledge, concepts and skills.
• An ability to communicate ideas both orally and in written form, independently as well as collaboratively.
• An ability to recall number facts quickly and accurately and use appropriate mental and/or written strategies.
• Logical thinking, reasoning and ability to problem solve as a transferable life skill.
• Perseverance and resilience when solving challenging problems.
• An awareness of Maths as a powerful tool that has applications both inside and outside the classroom.
• An awareness of the broad cultural background of Maths.

Implementation:

Maths is a vital life skill that is needed in everyday life and we aim to equip our children for lifelong mathematical security. To help each child develop a deep level of understanding, they are challenged and encouraged to apply their learning in real-life, purposeful ways. Every lesson sees all children having these opportunities to explore Maths and challenge their thinking. We use a wide range of resources in all year groups to allow children to manipulate resources to embed learning for the long-term. Additionally, we vary the representations the children see. We use a wide array of pictorial images to support learning alongside the abstract methods.

Daily fluency building occurs to develop times table knowledge, number facts, bonds, doubling, halving etc… This happens through a variety of songs, dances and games. This fluency enables children to access more challenging problems as less time is needed to solve rapid-fire-type problems.  

Maths can have a real negative stigma of being something that you either ‘can’ or ‘can’t’ do. However, at East Claydon we believe that ALL children can master Mathematics and can develop their thinking through intelligent practice and daily challenge – all children are given so many ways to access new concepts that they will find a way that is meaningful to them. It is true that some children find some areas more challenging but with our ‘Keep Up Not Catch Up’ interventions and pre-teaching, no child is left behind.  We mark work during the lesson and we offer additional 1:1 sessions in the afternoons to help overcome misconceptions and to ensure that everyone feels confident to tackle the next day’s challenges.

Mixed age planning

Maths is taught every day in each class. Each lesson will consist of fluency building, problem solving and reasoning. A wide range of resources are implemented in every year group. We use the highly recommended White Rose Planning to support our planning. We then supplement this with resources from NCETM (National Centre for the Excellence in Teaching Mathematics), NRich and other high quality, approved Mastery specialists, to ensure that all children are supported and/or challenged.

Our children at East Claydon School are incredibly lucky to taught in mixed age classes.  This gives them the opportunity to access the right levels of support and challenge to meet their individual needs.  It gives more gifted mathematicians the chance to act as peer tutors which deepens and enriches their own understanding.  For the younger children in the class, as well as those who need more support, mixed age plans provide access to a greater range of strategies and thinking to help them grasp new ideas. 

All children are encouraged to speak clearly about their Mathematical reasoning, using full sentences and justifying their ideas with ‘because’. Accurate use of mathematical language is required by all pupils, both in their verbal and written responses. Having such a range of children offering their interpretations to problem solving can only benefit more children. Furthermore, the wide range in ages allows flexibility between learning. Teachers carefully monitor each child and can offer further support or extending children as they are clear in the expectations for more than one year group. 

Not all Maths lessons can be taught collaboratively as a whole class. There are some objectives which are age-specific. If this is the case, the class will be split and be taught separately. It is down to the teacher’s discretion as to the appropriateness of whole class or year group specific teaching.  

Supporting your children at home

Every child in the school has their own account on the DoodleMaths app, which can be used as often as you’d like. DoodleMaths teaches, tracks and assesses your child’s time spent on the app, tailoring the content to the ability of your child.  Over the past year we have seen that the more time a child spends on DoodleMaths, the more fluent they become in core mathematical skills and this gives them ‘cognitive space’ to tackle increasingly challenging problems and application of their skills.  In short, it makes a BIG difference to their overall attainment and progress! Teachers can also set specific homework on DoodleMaths, to help consolidate learning in the classroom.

We have also invested in TTRS (Times Tables Rockstars) which is used to support your child’s learning of multiplication and division facts. Within the app, each child is allocated an avatar where they can play a wide range of games to encourage instant recall of the times tables. Teachers regularly monitor this and assign appropriate times tables for children to work on.

Maths.co.uk is another website which we use to help children practise and consolidate learning in school. The website replicates ‘SATs-style’ questions and allows children to use their learning in a meaningful way.

KIRFs are set each half term and will encourage your children to use their ‘Key Instant Recall Facts’. The autonomy of these facts are key to becoming a fluent and successful mathematician.

Impact:

Teaching for mastery is the way maths is taught to all year groups, so that children experience continuity as they move from one year group to another. As a result of teaching for mastery, the culture of studying maths at East Claydon includes an ever-present element of exploration.

Children are encouraged to ask questions and it is absolutely okay to get things wrong. The process of learning is transparent and positive. One outcome of this is that we have reduced anxiety with our approach to teaching maths – teachers are confident with their teaching and as a result, we have confident and happy learners.

Our children leave East Claydon as young adults prepared for the real world. They have a secure understanding of the world of maths and its purpose. They will continue with their love of maths to one day, become positively contributing members of society.