Article 29. We have the right to be the best that we can be.

'You help us to try our best and I never give up’ Jack.

Article 28. We have the right to learn.  

‘I like maths because it makes me clever and mistakes helps me learn’ Felicity

Intent

At Fairisle Infant and Nursery School, we encourage all pupils to develop a positive attitude towards Mathematics, through enjoyable, structured and purposeful activities. We aim to provide a high quality Maths curriculum, covering a range of knowledge and skills with the intention of creating great mathematicians who will apply the skills taught to solve related problems.  Alongside our own planning, we also use White Rose resources.

The Mastering Maths programme is taught alongside daily learning in school from Year R to Year 2 as extra daily maths sessions in the afternoons to support children’s understanding of number. This approach helps us to spark a positive growth mindset towards mathematics where all children use sentence stems and visual clues to further support basic number knowledge

We recognise that young children understand mathematical concepts more effectively when provided with a wide variety of concrete experiences, involving visual, practical, play based and speaking and listening opportunities. They develop and reinforce mental strategies to enable them to solve routine and non-routine problems relating to money, shape, space and measures, number and calculation.

Implementation 

The curriculum is planned across the year groups through long and medium term planning where skills are revisited termly. Mental maths sessions are being used daily to revisit and secure learning. Pupils acquire new skills, revisit and secure previous learning, apply skills in a variety of problems and develop their reasoning skills. Teachers use an S plan approach to plan the short term journey that meets the needs of their current cohort and to ensure clear progression and attainment of skills.  Children have the opportunity to develop fluency, reasoning and problem-solving skills in each topic.

In school we use a concrete, visual, abstract approach (CVA) that is a highly effective way of teaching which develops a deep and sustainable understanding of maths in pupils. The principle of the CVA approach is that, for children to have a true understanding of a mathematical concept, there are three phases they need to master: concrete, pictorial and abstract. Reinforcement is achieved by going back and forth between these representations.

Examples of concrete resources could include counters, coins, rekenreks (abacus), numicon, multilink cubes, counting objects e.g. little teddies, dienes, geometric shapes, dominoes, dice, and many more. Children will use these to help them add, subtract, count on, understand place value e.g. tens and ones etc.

Examples of our visual/pictorial approach is where children will see or use pictorial images,  number lines, ten frames, part part whole models, hundred squares, arrays, tens and ones, groupings etc. to work out their answers when covering maths skills e.g. adding, subtracting, multiplication, tens and ones for place value etc.

Examples of the abstract is where children will then write and read number sentence, setting out their work using numbers and symbols.

Our well-trained staff challenge, support and encourage independence through carefully constructed lessons. In KS1 we group the children, allowing them  to gain confidence in skills while working through a selection of well-chosen activities, challenges, problems and reasoning questions.

To develop fluency and reasoning skills, children are taught to talk through  their thinking with talk partners and teachers.  This begins in mental maths so teachers can model it.  Teachers can establish a baseline for each child’s mathematical understanding and then support the child’s next steps in order to move their learning forward. Within each lesson work is marked and feedback given to children immediately to ensure that maximum progress can be made.

Through the Mathematics curriculum, we cover:

• Number - Number send Place Value
• Number- Addition and subtraction
• Number- Multiplication and Division
• Number- Fractions
• Measurements and Time
• Geometry- Properties of Shape
• Geometry- Position and Direction
• Statistics (Year 2)

After lessons, marking informs crucial assessment that feeds into the planning and teaching of following lessons. Next steps and corrections are included within marking to further extend knowledge and understanding. Each classroom is well equipped with materials and resources, which reflect progression and continuity between each year group and areas of Maths being taught. Vocabulary related to the current area of Maths is also displayed as well as strategy cards to prompt children to independently solve problems.

At Fairisle we work closely with the Maths hub and schools in our Trust to continue to strengthen our teachers to support teaching and learning.