Mathematics

At Airedale Infant School, we deliver a spiralled progressive maths curriculum, which is used to support planning, to ensure sequenced and appropriate content for specific year groups. Teachers are clear on the learning and expectations for each year group, as this has been mapped out so that children are building on prior knowledge and skills each term and each year. Whenever possible, we teach through a focused calculation ensuring that the skills are linked closely in order to consolidate, embed and revisit learning, make connections and develop a greater depth of understanding within the subject.

The Mathematics curriculum is cumulative, we do not use a set scheme to aid our teaching. This gives our children the opportunity to ‘master maths’; through working on individual need, next steps teaching and revisiting and consolidating previous learning throughout the school year. Though this method our children develop mathematical fluency and conceptual understanding.

Within each unit of work and daily lessons, class teachers carefully plan the specific outcomes for their year group and class, this is based upon age appropriate knowledge and skills, as well as the needs of the cohort or individuals within it.

All children take part in a daily mathematics lesson following a sequenced structure. This provides pace to the lessons as well as opportunities for feedback and assessment. Great emphasis is placed on reasoning and problem-solving. Children are expected to explain their mathematical thinking using appropriate language throughout the lesson. Children are encouraged to apply their increasing mathematical knowledge at all stages of the lesson.

In every lesson a mental or calculation starter is used to build up key skills and accuracy, followed by a recap of prior learning, which the children refer to as the ‘pit’. Key mathematical vocabulary is then reinforced or introduced as a further opportunity to ensure that children have learnt and remembered what has previously been taught. Modelling is then used by class teachers to clarify expectations, before children are then given numerous opportunities to consolidate and build upon their skills through fluency practise, before progressing to reasoning and problem solving.

Conceptual Understanding – Children deepen their understanding by representing concepts using equipment e.g. counters, base 10, bead strings to gain solid understanding of mathematical concepts, making links with new learning and developing analytical thinking for problem solving. This approach then progresses to pictorial representation, essentially a drawing or picture which still provides support to access maths learning. Once children have a real understanding a more abstract approach is used, the using numbers, words, symbols and formal written methods. They make connections between different representations and consider what different representations stress and ignore.

Language and Communication – Children deepen their understanding by explaining, creating problems, justifying and proving using mathematical language. This acts as a scaffold for their thinking and deepening their understanding further.

Mathematical Thinking – Children deepen their understanding by giving an example, by sorting or comparing, or by looking for patterns and rules in the representations they are exploring problems with.

If child has a meaningful understanding of the maths they are learning, they will be able to represent it in different ways, use mathematical language to communicate related ideas and think mathematically with the concept. This will enable them to apply their understanding to a new problem in an unfamiliar situation.

• Number – Number and Place Value
• Number – Addition and Subtraction
• Number – Multiplication and Division
• Number – Fractions
• Measurement
• Geometry – Properties of Shapes
• Geometry – Position and Direction
• Statistics

At Airedale Infant School the content of the mathematics curriculum is chosen to ensure coverage of the knowledge, skills and expectations, as set out in the National Curriculum programmes of study. Each year group has in place a knowledge coverage document, which is used for planning to ensure sequenced and appropriate content for specific year groups, as well as building up skills and knowledge

Ongoing assessments of the children’s knowledge and skills are made by the class teacher using AFL strategies, formative assessments and through self and peer assessment tools.  Misconceptions are addressed and next steps carefully planned. At the end of a term of spiralled teaching, our children complete summative assessments which is a written test in line with the National Curriculum which is designed to show areas of success and next steps in learning.

The summative assessment is used to plan appropriate next steps for their future learning, as well as provide an overview of learning within a subject area cross the whole school.

Teachers plan strategically to take advantage of opportunities to make cross-curricular links. They will plan for children to practise and apply the skills, knowledge and understanding acquired through Mathematic lessons to other areas of the curriculum. They will also use their long term planning to make the best use of fitting in appropriate units to coincide with other curriculum plans. Special visitors are booked to enrich the curriculum in an interesting way.

Application of Mathematics across the curriculum is ongoing and Mathematics subject leaders monitor this termly.