Mathematics

Vision for Maths
At Huxley, our vision for Maths reflects our school vision. We endeavour to ensure that children acquire a long-term, secure, adaptable understanding of mathematics. Our aim is to ensure pupils are secure in each element of Mathematics, through the use of our Firm Foundations,’ before advancing onto the next and due to the nature of our school offer, understand it is vital to ensure that the fundamental basics underpinning a good grasp of Mathematics are embedded and secure before moving on.

Through Maths at Huxley, we aim:

• to promote enjoyment of learning through practical activity, exploration and discussion, (collaboration and cooperation);
• to develop confidence and competence with numbers and the number system; building resilience; using Firm Foundations and retrieval practice;
• to develop the ability to solve problems through decision-making and reasoning in a range of contexts;
• to develop a practical understanding of the ways in which information is gathered and presented; to explore features of shape and space, and developing measuring skills in a range of contexts;
• to help children understand the importance of mathematics in everyday life.
• to 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.
• to reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language.

Curriculum Intent

For children to have a positive view of maths, showing confidence, interest and competence.

Aims of the Curriculum
The National Curriculum aims to ensure that all pupils:

• become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through foundational knowledge, 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, retrieval of skills and persevering in seeking solutions

Our curriculum embraces the National Curriculum aims, and provides guidance to help pupils to become:

Visualisers – we use the Concrete Pictorial Abstract approach to help pupils understand mathematics and to make connections between different representations.

Describers – we place great emphasis on mathematical language and questioning so pupils can discuss the mathematics they are doing and, in doing so, support them to take ideas further.

Experimenters – as well as being fluent mathematicians, we want pupils to love and learn more about mathematics in the world around them.

Curriculum Implementation

Curriculum Organisation
From EYFS to Year 6, we use First4Maths as our main tool for supporting teaching and learning in Mathematics, supplementing this with other high quality resources, such as BEAM, NCETM and NRich. This helps us to ensure Firm Foundations, which leads to a secure progression of skills and knowledge. Below are general overviews of how/when areas of mathematics will taught during this school year.

See below attached document for each year group overview using First4Maths

Planning
The planning of the curriculum is organised in three phases:
- long term planning which shows the organisation of the topics across the year for each individual year group, and the coverage and progression of knowledge, skills and understanding. As seen above in the curriculum overviews.

- medium term planning which demonstrates the progression of knowledge, skills and understanding within each topic, with teachers using on-going assessment to determine how long is spent studying each area.

- short term planning which teachers choose the learning outcomes for the groups of children they teach, with suggested overviews being fluid, in order to meet the needs of the individual cohorts.  Planning can be highlighted and annotated from the First4Maths planning documents.

Maths is taught Monday-Friday in class to children who access school full-time.  For flexi-learners the work covered on a Monday and Friday can be accessed by parents and children at home and is supported by additional material, such as multiplication tables practice, which is also put on Showbie. Any work completed at home, can be sent to teachers via Showbie or children can bring their home-learning into school.

At Huxley, high expectations are expected from teachers, teaching assistants and children in planning, teaching and learning, to ensure the needs of all are met, progress is made and children can achieve their maximum potential from their individual baseline.

In our October 26 survey the children highlighted maths as their favourite subject!