Maths

At Alverstoke, we value the importance of mathematics and place great importance on creating and fostering the children’s interest and enthusiasm for the subject. We aim for the children to develop their understanding of mathematics through tasks, which encourage deeper thinking and enable them to apply their learning into real-life contexts. The skills they acquire through their mathematics learning helps them to become confident in problem solving and critical thinking which they can apply to various aspects of life. We develop the three foundations of mathematics stated within the National Curriculum:

Fluency

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.

Reasoning

reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language.

Problem Solving

can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and nonroutine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.

We aim to foster a positive, “can do” attitude towards mathematics, to ensure that all children believe that they can achieve, and be successful in this subject. The curriculum objectives are planned for in “small steps” to give children the opportunity to develop both a secure and a deeper understanding of a mathematical concept. To achieve this level of understanding, emphasis is placed on the children gaining both the conceptual and procedural understanding of a concept.

We use misconceptions and mistakes in learning as a driver to secure the children’s understanding as well as ensuring they are provided with sufficient challenge through the use of rich and sophisticated problems. Children will aim, throughout the year, to become “masters” of their year group’s curriculum; showing their understanding through their ability to apply their learning in different contexts and represent their working in multiple ways.

As a school, we have adopted a mastery approach to teaching mathematics and base our planning and tasks around one of the “Five Big Ideas” (NCETM/Maths Hubs):

Coherence: Lessons will be broken down into small connected steps that gradually unfold the concept, providing access for all children and leading to a generalisation of the concept and the ability to apply the concept to a range of contexts.
Representation and Structure: Representations will be used in lessons to expose the mathematical structure being taught, with the aim of students accessing the maths without recourse to the representation
Mathematical Thinking: Pupils will be encouraged to send ample time considering and giving thought to the mathematical concepts they are presented with and these will be reasoned with and discussed
Fluency: Pupils will learn quick and efficient recall of facts and procedures and learn to flexibly move between different contexts and representations of mathematics
Variation: Teachers will represent the concept being taught to children, often in more than one way, to draw attention to critical aspects, and to develop deep and holistic understanding. Children will be given the opportunity to practise key skills and concepts in a variety of contexts, building on prior knowledge making explicit cross-domain links.

The children will all have opportunity to challenge and extend their thinking within a lesson and we promote and encourage them to take responsibility for moving their own learning forward and push their thinking further. Tasks will be designed following the “ACE” structure:

Where possible, children will explore mathematical concepts in practical and real-life contexts; they will use concrete, pictorial and abstract (CPA) representations of concepts to consolidate and deepen their understanding.

Please see the video below for further explanation of the CPA approach:

https://mathsnoproblem.com/en/approach/concrete-pictorial-abstract/

The design of the Mathematics curriculum will be created through the use of the HIAS Unit Plans, White Rose and the school’s Unit Overview documents. The planning of mathematics will be conducted in the following three phases:

Long-term planning: This is an annual overview of when domains and their content will be taught, giving careful consideration to the children’s starting points and adapting this as necessary through the use of both formative and summative assessments. Please see attached the overview for each year group for the year.
Medium-term planning: This is the development of a learning journey for a unit of work. This will include starting points/previously acquired knowledge and the end goal for the unit of work. The “lead” domain will be decided upon and supporting domains and their objectives will be planned into the learning journey, giving careful consideration to the “small steps” and the order/sequence of which the lessons are taught.
Short-term planning: This is the daily planning of lessons, whereby tasks are designed and varied in order to reach the needs of all children within the classroom, providing sufficient support and challenge. HIAS Unit plans and AJS Unit Overviews are to be used alongside White Rose to support planning.

Calculation Policy

There is clear progression in the way that calculations for the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) are taught and learnt at AJS. Each method and strategy for solving the calculations is progressive and will build on the learning they have done in previous year groups to ensure there is consistency and opportunity to develop and deepen their learning. Please see below a copy of the AJS Calculation Policy.

Supporting at Home

When supporting children with their maths learning at home it is always helpful to work on their recall of some key number facts. This includes: number bonds, conversions of measure, times tables, multiplying and dividing by 10/100/1000 etc. Below you will find the key number facts documents that have been produced by Hampshire Maths Team that details the key facts that children should be able to recall by the end of each year group.

Here you will also find a list of some useful websites:

Times Table Rockstars: https://ttrockstars.com/

Top Marks: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/

BBC Bitesize: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks2/maths

Education Quizzes: https://www.educationquizzes.com/ks2/maths/