Maths

Mathematics at Sir Francis Hill 

Mission of Intent

To give everyone the skills to use and understand maths in our daily lives 

Intent

At Sir Francis Hill Primary school, we aim to provide children with the opportunity to master mathematics in each year group, through high quality, inspirational and enjoyable lessons. Over time, children develop resilience, as we encourage them to accept that to struggle is a necessary step in their learning.  Children are appropriately challenged and supported through varied fluency, reasoning and problem solving. Irrespective of personal starting points, children explore maths in depth, and use a range of mathematical vocabulary to reason and explain.  Pupils persevere by building on previous knowledge and skills, and apply these to a wide variety of contexts.  They appreciate the relevance of maths in real life situations, recognising that it is not simply ‘sums’ and ‘rules’.

Implementation 

We implement our mastery approach, through high quality teaching and the delivery of appropriately pitched work for all groups of learners, supported by a range of materials. 

Pupils in Foundation Stage and Year 1 will access their maths learning through continuous provision. Mathematical concepts are introduced and built upon through a series of direct teaching sessions. Within the provision, children have the freedom to further explore these mathematical concepts through concrete manipulatives and creative opportunities. In addition to this, they are encouraged to follow their own mathematical lines of enquiry, which are supported through effective adult interactions and modelling. 

Maths lessons are planned and delivered in accordance with White Rose Maths, small steps progression, which is underpinned by the concrete, pictorial and abstract (CPA) approach.  Classrooms have a range of mathematical resources which are readily available for the children.  These include, but are not limited to, Numicon, Diennes, place value counters, number lines and hundred squares.  Varied starting points and timely teacher interventions are utilised in response to teachers’ ongoing formative assessments through effective deployment of teaching assistants.  Some children with SEND receive a tailored programme of maths teaching in order to close their gaps. Maths days are also arranged yearly through the school to provide and develop their love of maths.  

In addition to daily maths lessons, Y2 through to Y6 provide weekly opportunities for all children to practise their mental and written calculation strategies.  This serves to reinforce and consolidate previous learning; increase fluency, speed and accuracy; and improve confidence.  Daily use of ‘TT Rockstars’ within school and home enables children to practise multiplication and division knowledge. We also occasionally use morning maths work in class, which focuses on different areas of arithmetic.  

Impact 

Ongoing formative assessment takes place within each maths lesson.  This includes: teacher observations, questioning, discussions and feedback. The outcomes of these assessments are fed forward into timely teacher intervention and subsequent planning to ensure gaps in knowledge are closed and progress is not limited.  

End of unit assessments are used to support teacher assessments, and end of term assessments are used to track progress and to identify knowledge that has not been well retained. In year 6, past SATs tests are used once a term to inform progress and areas of weaknesses are identified on an analysis grid. Outcomes from both end of unit and end of term assessments are used to identify gaps in knowledge to inform future planning.  Pupil progress meetings also identify precise actions and objectives for targeted focus children, these are discussed through a termly pupil progress meeting. Scholar Pack is used to track pupils progress throughout the school. We have six assessment checkpoints through the year to monitor the progress for every child.  

We recognise that quality first teaching in maths is the essential first step in improving outcomes for all children.  With this in mind, we ensure that teachers and teaching assistants are kept up to date on the latest initiatives and news.  This is through continuous professional development by outside providers and within school (such as local authority networks meetings). Weaker areas in staff subject knowledge and pedagogy are developed through mentoring.