Maths
Maths Intent
At Walworth School we aim to ‘significantly improve the quality of all our children’s lives’ and have developed a Maths curriculum basing significant importance around the specific needs of our children. Around the heart of the curriculum is parental voice. A parental survey found that 25% of parents think that Maths is an important lesson children should learn in school.
Our main intention is for our pupils to be fully prepared for the next stages in education and for future life by having
- An awareness of how to be a successful learner.
- The appropriate knowledge and skills to develop independence.
- A good understanding of being a responsible citizen.
We aim to achieve this by providing a Maths curriculum that has a clear sequence of learning that develops all three areas of the Maths National Curriculum (fluency, problem solving and reasoning) whilst recognising the need to develop our children in five key areas agreed by stakeholders;
- Knowledge and Skills
- Emotional Awareness
- Citizenship
- Independence
- Life experiences and understanding
Our curriculum drivers shape our curriculum breadth. They have been developed from an exploration of the backgrounds of our pupils, our beliefs about high-quality education and our values. They are used to ensure we give our pupils appropriate and ambitious curriculum opportunities. We plan to offer our pupils wide and varied opportunities to develop their cultural capital. Cultural capital gives our pupils the vital background knowledge required to be informed and thoughtful members of our community who understand and believe in British values. This has a direct impact on ensuring that our children are prepared for adulthood. In doing so, we recognise that Maths is an essential part of every-day life, providing fundamental and transferable skills needed to enable our children to reach their fullest potential in the wider community.
We intend to deliver a high-quality curriculum which:
- Is creative and enjoyable, yet challenging, which creates confident and passionate mathematicians who are not afraid to take risks.
- Creates resilient and independent learners, who show perseverance when faced with mathematical challenges.
- Allows for rich mathematical connections to be made to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competency in solving mathematical problems.
- Provides children with a variety of mathematical opportunities, allowing them to make connections in their learning to allow for a greater level of understanding of mathematical concepts.
Maths Implementation
At Walworth School every child is recognised as individual and unique, therefore it is key that their learning experiences meet their needs. The ability to learn is underpinned by the teaching of key skills, knowledge, concepts and vocabulary. Long term plans have been created which link to the National Curriculum and allow children the opportunity to practise and revisit prior learning.
Curriculum:
- In school, we follow the national curriculum, which has been broken down into smaller steps of learning. Teachers use a range of resources to support the planning, delivery and assessment of Maths.
- The whole school calculation policy is followed to ensure a consistent approach to teaching the four operations over time.
- At the start of each new topic, key vocabulary is introduced and revisited regularly to develop language acquisition, embedding as the topic progresses.
- Children are taught through clear modelling and have the opportunity to develop their knowledge and understanding of mathematical concepts. Alongside fluency, problem solving and reasoning are taught to allow children to develop their mathematical thinking.
- Through the use of the mastery approach, children are given opportunities to explore and demonstrate mathematical ideas, enrich their learning experience and deepen understanding at all levels.
- Children work at their own pace on objectives that are matched to their academic ability to allow appropriate challenge and to accelerate progress, allowing gaps in learning to be narrowed.
- A range of Mathematical resources are available to support children’s learning.
- Consolidation opportunities are provided for children through personalised and individual interventions. Interventions also allow for gaps in learning to be addressed.
- EHCP and Individual Learning plan outcomes are closely linked and inform the planning process.
- A passion for Maths is encouraged throughout school via links with others subjects, allowing children to apply their skills and knowledge with growing confidence and independence.
Assessment and Feedback:
- Effective verbal feedback is given to children both throughout lessons and following on from previous days learning, if necessary.
- Formative assessment within lessons allow teachers to identify children who may need further consolidation, or a challenge allowing children to deepen their understanding.
- Summative assessments are completed at the end of every term to support teacher assessment and identify any gaps in learning.
Maths Impact
Our high-quality, small-stepped approach to learning allows children to make progress at their own pace. Because learning is a change to long-term memory, it is impossible to see impact in the short term. We do, however, track progress over time to evaluate the impact of our practice. This means that we look at the practices taking place to determine whether they are appropriate, related to our goals and likely to produce results in the long run.
We use lesson observations to see if the pedagogical style (from direct instruction to discovery learning) matches our depth expectations.
Formative assessment is used to help teachers plan progression and meet the individual needs of children. Teachers use an assessment tracking tool (iASEND) to track progress through the curriculum. This relates to the National Curriculum Programme of Study for Maths. This in conjunction with work samples and lesson observations will enable the subject lead to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of our curriculum.
Alongside the regular monitoring of Maths across the school, we measure the impact of our curriculum against the following outcomes:
- Children will participate in Maths lessons with enthusiasm, confidence and resilience.
- Children will achieve success in Maths and make progress.
- Children will use and understand the correct Mathematical vocabulary.
- Children will be able to recognise relationships, make connections and independently apply concepts to new problems in unfamiliar situations.
