​Sir Edmund Hillary Academy

Maths at SEH

CURRICULUM INTENT

At Sir Edmund Hillary Academy, our shared vision for mathematics is: 

• To provide a mathematics curriculum that equips children with essential skills for life
• To foster a sense of curiosity and excitement about the subject 
• For every child to develop their mathematical fluency and to be able to reason and problem solve confidently. 
• To provide a mathematics curriculum where children continually build on the knowledge they have already mastered and are able to make rich connections across mathematical ideas
• To enable children to confidently reason about their mathematics by promoting the use of accurate mathematical language 
• To secure children’s knowledge and accuracy when recalling number facts 
• To develop children’s mathematical thinking by using a range of models to support learning through the use of concrete manipulatives, pictorial representations and abstract symbols 
• To promote enjoyment of learning through practical activity, exploration and discussion 
• To build resilience and promote a positive growth mind set in mathematics 

CURRICULUM IMPLEMENTATION

Aims of the National Curriculum

The national curriculum for mathematics aims to ensure that all pupils:

• become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately
• reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language
• can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions

Mathematics is an interconnected subject in which pupils need to be able to move fluently between mathematical ideas. The programmes of study are, by necessity, organised into apparently distinct domains, but pupils should make rich connections across mathematical ideas to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competence in solving increasingly sophisticated problems. They should also apply their mathematical knowledge to science and other subjects.

The expectation is that the majority of pupils will move through the programmes of study at broadly the same pace. 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. Pupils who grasp concepts rapidly should be challenged through being offered rich and sophisticated problems before any acceleration through new content. Those who are not sufficiently fluent with earlier material should consolidate their understanding, including through additional practice, before moving on.

Teaching of the Curriculum

Our aim is for all children to achieve Mastery in Maths. Teaching Maths for Mastery involves employing approaches that help pupils to develop a deep and secure knowledge and understanding of mathematics at each stage of their learning, so that by the end of every school year or Key Stage, pupils will have acquired a full understanding (mastery) of the mathematical facts and concepts they have studied. Children are thus encouraged to deepen their understanding of their year group’s content, rather than move onto new concepts from higher years.

 Representation and structure is a key consideration when designing lessons. “Teachers carefully select representations of mathematics to expose mathematical structure. The intention is to support pupils in ‘seeing’ the mathematics rather than using the representation as a tool to ‘do’ the mathematics. These representations become mental images that students can use to think about mathematics supporting them to achieve a deeper understanding of mathematical structures and connections”

Power Maths

At Sir Edmund Hillary, we adopt a maths scheme called Power Maths to support our teaching of maths.  Power Maths is a resource that has been designed for UK schools based on research and extensive experience of teaching and learning around the world and here in the UK. It has been designed to support and challenge all pupils, and is built on the belief that EVERYONE can learn maths successfully.   

Philosophy

The philosophy behind Power Maths is that being successful in maths is not just about rote-learning procedures and methods, but is instead about problem solving, thinking and discussing. Power Maths includes practice questions to help children develop fluent recall and develop their conceptual understanding. Power Maths uses growth mindset characters to prompt, encourage and question children. They spark curiosity, engage reasoning, secure understanding and deepen learning for all.

Lesson Structure

Each lesson has a progression, with a central flow that draws the main learning into focus. There are different elements:

• Discover – each lesson begins with a problem to solve, often a real-life example, sometimes a puzzle or a game. These are engaging and fun, and designed to get all children thinking.
• Share – the class shares their ideas and compares different ways to solve the problem, explaining their reasoning with hands-on resources and drawings to make their ideas clear. Children are able to develop their understanding of the concept with input from the teacher.
• Think together – the next part of the lesson is a journey through the concept, digging deeper and deeper so that each child builds on secure foundations while being challenged to apply their understanding in different ways and with increasing independence.
• Practice – now children practice individually or in small groups, rehearsing and developing their skills to build fluency, understanding of the concept and confidence.
• Reflect – finally, children are prompted to reflect on and record their learning from each session and show how they have grasped the concept explored in the lesson.

Power Maths is based on a ‘small-steps’ approach, which means that the concepts are broken down. There are a range of fluency, reasoning and problem solving questions in each lesson that are designed to support the different needs and confidence levels within a class, while at the same time fostering a spirit of working 

and learning together. Each lesson includes a challenge question for those children who can delve deeper into a concept.

 Children have access to resources such as counters, tens and ones, multilink and place value counters at all times to support their mathematical thinking when necessary.

Our Foundation Stage curriculum is underpinned by the principles laid out in the EYFS Statutory Framework document. However, we are committed to ensuring the confident development of number sense and put emphasis on mastery of key early concepts. We believe that there are six main areas that collectively underpin children’s early mathematical learning, and which provide the firm foundations for the maths that children will encounter as they go up the years in primary school.

 They are:

 Cardinality and Counting

Comparison

Composition

Pattern

Shape and Space

Measures

By the end of Foundation 2, children will have explored numbers to 10 in depth and been given the opportunity to experience number patterns beyond ten.  The development of models and images for numbers are a solid foundation for further progress. We give all children opportunity to develop their understanding of number, measurement, pattern, shape and space through varied practical activities and stories and songs that allow them to enjoy, explore, enquire, practise and talk confidently about maths.

 Resources

See planning overviews for progression of models and images. To ensure continuity and progression to the methodology of approaches to written calculations, teachers refer to the academy’s Calculation Policy.

CURRICULUM IMPACT

Children have a positive view of maths due to learning in an environment where maths is promoted as being an exciting and enjoyable subject in which they can investigate and ask questions. Children are confident to ‘have a go’ and recognise that it is reasonable to make mistakes because this can strengthen their learning through the journey to finding an answer

How do we monitor the impact of our mathematics curriculum?

At Sir Edmund Hillary Primary Academy, we monitor and measure the impact of our curriculum through learning walks, book scrutiny, pupil voice and formative and summative assessment.  In regards to assessment, our teachers carry out formative assessment – using assessment for learning – on a daily basis with feedback and intervention provided to children where necessary. This formative assessment is used alongside summative assessments – termly NTS assessments (years 1-5 and SATs for Y6) to arrive at a judgement in regards to how children are progressing in the curriculum. Teachers meet to review and moderate individual examples of work against exemplification materials on an academy level and Trust level to validate judgements. All summative assessment grades are inputted termly on the academy’s tracking system, DC Pro.

The Statutory Multiplication Table Check is used to assess children’s times table recall in Year 4, however, data is collected in for all Year 3 and 4 pupils termly in order to evaluate the progress that children are making in the lead up to the MTC.

Readiness for Next Stage of Education

By the end of Key Stage 2, we strive to ensure that our pupils are fluent in the fundamentals of Mathematics with a conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately. Our pupils have the skills to solve problems by applying their Mathematics to a variety of situations with increasing sophistication, including in unfamiliar contexts and to solve problems involving real-life scenarios. Further to this, our children will be able to reason mathematically by developing and presenting a justification, argument or proof using mathematical language. These skills will be as a result of our teaching of the Mathematics curriculum, which is designed to prepare children for their future in and outside of education so that they can become successful in whatever they pursue by leaving our academy by being at least at the expected standard for their age.

Promotion of British Values and SMSC

Through our curriculum for Mathematics, we ensure that our children are well-equipped for life in modern Britain. Through purposeful subject linkage, such as developing understanding of fractions and percentages through voting systems, we aim for our pupils to develop an excellent understanding of democracy, the rule of law, responsibility and liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs.

Further to this, our curriculum for Mathematics is also driven by SMSC development and this can be exemplified in the following ways;

•  Developing children’s problem solving skills and teamwork as these are fundamental to the subject through creative thinking, discussion, explaining and discussing ideas.
• Enabling pupils to acknowledge the important contributions made in the subject by non-western cultures
• As a result of this, pupils thrive – enjoying their lives, learning and wanting to make a difference for others.

CURRICULUM DOCUMENTATION