Maths at St Augustine's
At St Augustine's we have adopted a ‘mastery’ approach to our maths curriculum and implemented this to meet the individual needs of our children. In achieving this aim, we follow the year group objectives outlined in the National Curriculum to ensure that learning is broken down into small, progressive steps that are built upon daily. We feel it is essential that our children experience maths in a variety of situations and that they understand concepts using the concrete, pictorial and abstract model.
We use a range of resources within a formative approach to support learning and teaching in each year group. These include NCETM Mastery Materials, White Rose materials, nRich, and our school website powered by New Era Education. Each task is chosen on an individual basis for the educational value of the objective being covered and these ongoing decisions are made by teaching staff. We also access testbase and use TTRS to develop fluency and rapid recall of times table facts.
LTP & Progression
We follow the objectives outlined in the national curriculum for mathematics. The links to each year groups LTP can be found by following this link.
The aims of our mastery approach to maths are to ensure that all pupils:
- become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics
- are able to reason mathematically
- can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety tasks and problems
Mathematics is an interconnected subject in which pupils need to be able to move fluently between representations of 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.
(2014 National Curriculum)
The expectation is that the majority of pupils will move through the programmes of study at broadly the same pace. However, those who are not sufficiently fluent with materials are supported to consolidate their understanding before moving on. Children who grasp concepts rapidly are challenged through being offered rich and sophisticated problems.
We follow the recommended teaching sequence of the NCETM Professional Development Materials. This enables teaching staff to build concepts sequentially in a progressive framework using images and representations that build on prior learning.
Caluclation Policy
Our caluclation policy is adapted from the WRH example. This is used alongside planning to ensure a consistency of approach as the children develop and extend key concepts.
What Learning Looks Like
Within each learning activity there is always an element of problem solving and reasoning. These are presented in a wide variety of ways; sometimes at the beginning of learning to inspire creative thought and sometimes at the end as a consolidation. The use of resources and representations is encouraged for all learners; from Y1 to Y6. Where apporpriate, links to real life contexts are always sought and explored. Creativity is the key to our maths curriculum success.
Parental Links - Maths Learning Morning
We also hold an annual Maths Learning Morning for parents to join their children and learn alongside them. The aim of this experience to to demonstrate to parents how their children best learn mathematics and also to ensure that they are aware of key fluency they need to learn within each year group. They are always very well attended and the feedback is incredibly positive!
EYFS Maths
Maths is one of the four specific areas within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). Each specific area is divided into Early Learning Goals, for maths these are:
- Numbers – children learn to count and about the value of numbers, higher and lower
- Shape, Space and Measure – children use everyday language to talk about size, weight, capacity, position, distance, time and money to compare quantities and objects and to solve problems. They recognise, create and describe patterns. They explore characteristics of everyday objects and shapes and use mathematical language to describe them.
Here are some examples of our wonderful learners in action.
