Mathematics
We believe that Mathematics equips children with a uniquely powerful set of tools to understand and change the world.
Maths Mastery Approach
We teach Mathematics through the Mathematics Mastery approach, which is a highly effective approach based on extensive research and evidence. Practice – and lots of it! – is the foundation of the maths mastery learning culture.
Maths mastery, an Asian approach to mathematical teaching which was introduced to UK schools in 2016, designed to provide learners with a deep conceptual understanding of mathematical principles and the ability to confidently communicate in precise mathematical language while becoming mathematical thinkers.
Our teachers are trained and use materials from Ark Curriculum Plus' Mathematics Mastery for all years and in addition, White Rose Maths for KS2 (Y3 - Y6).
Maths in practice
Mathematical concepts are explored in a variety of contexts to give children a richer and deeper learning experience. Children use objects and pictures to demonstrate and visualise abstract ideas, alongside numbers and symbols. Children are involved in a broad range of activities in order to learn mathematical concepts and develop numeracy. They are given practical experience, investigative tasks, regular practice and memorisation of mathematical facts and procedures to build mathematical fluency. In addition to daily mathematics lessons, classes also have a ‘Maths Meeting’. The children learn the days of the week, months of the year, how to tell the time and other key mathematical knowledge appropriate to their year group.
In order for children to make sense of a new idea or relationship, they need to incorporate it into their current understanding and see how it connects with ideas and relationships they have encountered previously. The greater their understanding of what has been taught previously, the more sense they will be able to make of increasingly complex mathematics in the future. Therefore, we believe that the key to knowing more mathematics lies in understanding.
We also believe that children who make sense of the mathematics they are learning have more memorable and enjoyable experiences that are more likely to be remembered in the long term. They will also be able to do more as they understand how to push the boundaries of what they know and apply it to solve problems.
The curriculum is organised to be cumulative. This means that mathematical concepts that are taught earlier in the curriculum are revisited in the context of a new area of mathematics. This helps the children to make connections between different mathematical concepts. Retrieving, using and applying concepts regularly, transferring to new concepts help develop fluency as well as conceptual understanding.
As the children progress through the school, through regular practice, they become increasingly fluent in retrieving and using key mathematical skills such as multiplication tables, recalling number bonds and using mental processes to calculate efficiently with numbers, which – alongside proficiency in written methods of calculation – sets them up for the demands of maths at secondary school and in everyday life.
We recognise that not all children come to each lesson at the same starting point and for this reason, we differentiate and scaffold learning according to the needs of the learners. We provide opportunities for meaningful dialogue to take place in lessons. It is by giving children an opportunity to talk and by listening carefully to what they have to say, that we can gather some of the richest data on their understanding and can plan the next steps.