maths

Maths

At Marlborough Primary School, we believe that our Maths curriculum will nurture a love for Maths through a secure knowledge of key skills. We aim to develop confident mathematicians at problem solving and reasoning, while exploring links to the world around them. We aim to develop our pupil's problem solving, resilience and reflective skills - skills that are transferable across the curriculum.

With the support of the NCETM Great North Maths Hub, we are working on embedding the mastery approach to teaching Maths in which most pupils within a class work towards the same learning objective. Some children will use concrete, pictorial or abstract resources to support them to meet this and some with require additional support from adults/peers. Pupils who struggle with a concept will be given additional intervention to help them via pre-teaching or immediate intervention. Any pupils who grasp concepts rapidly will be given the opportunity to broaden their understanding through applying it in different ways to solve problems.

At Marlborough Primary School, Maths is taught daily. We currently follow the new National Curriculum to ensure pupils are taught a wide range of mathematical skills. The government requirements have been developed to match the needs of our pupils. The curriculum has three main aimsto develop fluency, reasoning and problem solving. This is something which we have always actively promoted at Marlborough so the move to the new curriculum has not meant a great deal of change for us. What has changed, however is the expectations in different year groups. Pupils may now be expected to work with larger numbers or carry out more complex calculations. Pupils will be fully supported in this new learning and will be able to access a range of resources to support their understanding.

In Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1:

pupils are taught in small focused groups so that all of their needs are fully met. Pupils tend to access practical activities and use a lot of visual resources to aid and develop their understanding. Additionally, pupils access carefully planned Maths activities linked to their interests through the continuous provision. This allows pupils to continuously practice and apply their skills so they become fully embedded. In addition to this, pupils are encouraged to further develop and apply these skills in other curriculum areas.

In Key Stage 2:

pupils are taught as a class. However, lessons are planned carefully to ensure all pupils’ needs are met; whether they need more support or extra challenge. Teachers and teaching assistants work with different groups/ individuals to support them and allow them to access more difficult activities.

We strive to make Maths fun for the pupils and ensure the pupils are fully involved in all lessons. We have a wide range of equipment and software which supports the learning in this area. We try to link Maths to other curriculum areas to make Maths meaningful to the pupils.

Using and applying maths is a major focus as pupils need to know how and when to use their Maths skills to solve the problems they will come across in everyday life. The pupils participate in regular activities to allow them to apply their maths skills to a range of situations.

We have a focus on mental maths as these are the skills that pupils need to develop to use in everyday life. Pupils are involved in fun, challenging activities to develop these skills every day. They also take part in ‘Beat that’ challenges to allow them to practice the quick recall of facts. Pupils love trying to improve their scores and beat their times.

We follow a calculations policy to ensure that there is progression throughout the school. This identifies the methods that pupils will be taught in specific year groups. Maths at Marlborough Primary School Pupils are set weekly Maths homework allows them to apply their skills in different ways resulting in a deeper understanding.