Curriculum Vision and Mathematics

All of the elements of our curriculum intent statement underpin our teaching of Mathematics. At Holy Trinity Primary School, our aim is for children to leave as confident, skilled and resilient mathematicians; who understand that mathematics is a fundamental part of everyday life and the world we live in. Mathematics provides particular opportunities for teaching the following aspects of our intent statement.

Strand 1:  In educating to develop wisdom, knowledge and skills we intend to:

1. meet the academic needs of all of our pupils through our curriculum by

1. 1. 1. having a strongly agreed consensus of the knowledge and skills our pupils need in order to take advantage of opportunities later in later life and through this powerfully address social disadvantage

1. 1. 1. teach our children to read, write and use mathematical knowledge confidently by the end of key stage 1 so they are able to access a broad and balanced curriculum at key stage 2

iv) being clear what end points the curriculum is building towards and what pupils need to know to be able to reach those end points

v)  developing a curriculum that is carefully planned and sequenced logically so that new knowledge and skills build on what has been taught before and towards clearly defined end points

vi)  ensuring our curriculum meets the specific needs of our community, particularly widening vocabulary and broadening children’s experiences and horizons through systematically extending their knowledge of the wider world

vii) maintaining a healthy breadth and balance in our curriculum in all year groups

viii) committing our time and resources to developing teachers and teaching assistants with a highly competent subject knowledge of the areas of the curriculum they teach

ix) committing time and resources to high quality teaching materials that coherently support our ambitious intentions

x) using assessment well to help pupils embed and use knowledge fluently, check understanding and inform teaching to address any gaps;

1. 1. identify and support those who are more vulnerable and who may have additional learning and personal needs by

1. 1. 1. having high expectations and ambition for all our pupils across the range of subjects

1. 1. 1. developing a curriculum that is successfully adapted to meet the needs of all our pupils, including those with special educational needs or disabilities and those whose first language is not English. This will enable them to develop their knowledge, skills and abilities to apply what they know and can do with increasing fluency and independence

 Strand 2:  In educating for character development, including hope, aspiration and courageous advocacy we intend to:

1. support the character and moral development of all pupils, giving them aspiration and hope by

1. developing curriculum opportunities that promote resilience to cope well when things are difficult

Strand 3:  In educating for community and living well together we intend to:

1. promote social and cultural development through a curriculum that encourages forgiveness and reconciliation, encouraging good mental

             health and enabling all to flourish and live well together. We will do this by

              ii)   planning curriculum opportunities that explore different points of view, enabling pupils to disagree well and practice forgiveness and  

               reconciliation

1. 1. 1. building a curriculum that fosters a sense of belonging, embracing and celebrating difference.

Strand 4:  In educating for dignity and respect we intend to:

                 a)  plan curriculum opportunities that embrace difference and promote a culture of dignity and respect, thus enabling all pupils to flourish. We aim

           to do this by

               i)  ensuring that our curriculum upholds dignity and values all God’s children so that we are successful in preventing rather than just reacting to

            stereotyping and prejudice

                iii) ensuring our curriculum enables children to cherish themselves as uniquely and wonderfully made, enabling then to form healthy relationships

             where they respect and offer dignity to others.

Purpose and Aims of Mathematics

Mathematics is a creative and highly interconnected discipline that has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems. It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. A high-quality mathematics education therefore provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject. (National Curriculum 2014)

In line with the National Curriculum (2014), our overall intent focuses on all pupils being able to:

• Develop positive attitudes towards this subject
• Develop competence and confidence in mathematical knowledge, concepts and skills
• Establish an ability to solve problems, to reason, to think logically and to work systematically and accurately
• Reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language
• Create initiative and motivation to work both independently and in cooperation with others
• Expand an ability to communicate mathematics effectively
• Promote an ability to use and apply mathematics across the curriculum and in real life

Organisation of Teaching

The Mathematics curriculum is carefully and coherently sequenced to enable our children to develop a growing knowledge of the themes outlined above. Pupils’ knowledge builds towards clearly defined end points so everyone knows what we expect our pupils to achieve by the end of each mathematical topic, each year and each key stage.

The organisation of our mastery approach of teaching for mathematics should be in three stages:

• Long term: A yearly overview of coverage in relation to the statutory requirement of the National Curriculum (2014)

• Medium term: Provides termly mathematical objectives and coverage within a unit of work

• Short term: Teachers are responsible for planning weekly progressive objectives to meet the needs of their pupils

At Holy Trinity Primary School, we take our objectives and content from the statutory National Curriculum for England. To support high quality knowledge rich lessons and consistency we follow the White Rose Maths scheme.  In conjunction with the aims of this document and of our school, teachers plan and deliver motivating and comprehensive mathematical activities to facilitate pupils understanding of concepts at greater depth and to solve a variety of complex problems.

Planning is based upon the objectives for each year group and our school’s expectation is that pupils will progress through the objectives at broadly the same pace. Teachers, where necessary, will adapt the curriculum and encourage the use of resources and equipment to support pupils with SEND and those with significant gaps in their learning. Furthermore, teachers will implement opportunities to explore learning at even greater depth for pupils who are very able mathematicians. It is not, our school expectation to rush these children into learning content from year groups above, but to develop a mastery approach to reasoning in this subject.

Throughout our planning we provide children with a range of opportunities to apply and develop their mathematical knowledge through non-routine activities. For example, using real-life contexts or by expanding and enriching knowledge through finding solutions, reasoning and exploration.

Teachers will ensure that problem solving is an integral part of weekly plans. Pupils will be explicitly taught the skills needed to independently tackle the five areas of problem solving over the course of an academic year, such as word problems, finding possibilities, logic, describing rules and patterns and visual puzzles and diagrams.

Every mathematics lesson should include a form of counting. Teachers are responsible for developing pupils use of mental methods of calculation. As pupils develop their knowledge and understanding of mathematics, they should become confident in choosing a written or mental method of calculation where appropriate. 

Our school’s Calculation Policy provides clear progression for the teaching of written calculations. It is our school expectation that children have a clear understanding of the calculations that they are performing and are not simply taught to follow a set of rules. By implementing this approach, we strive to ensure all children are given the opportunity to develop a greater understanding of the calculations being taught.

In Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) teachers plan for Mathematics using the statutory framework and Early Learning Goals. Teachers support pupils in developing their understanding of Mathematics in a broad range of contexts in which they can explore, learn, enjoy, practice and talk about their developing understanding. This area of development includes, making connections, seeking patterns, working with numbers, recognising mathematical relationships, shapes and measures, and counting, sort and matching. It is imperative that pupils in EYFS use their knowledge of and skills in these areas to solve problems, generate new questions and make connections across other areas of learning and development.

Pupils in EYFS enjoy their mathematical learning by playing and exploring, being active, and through creative and critical thinking which takes place both indoors and outside. We recognise that children learn through routine, continuous provision and incidental learning opportunities, as well as planned sessions and activities. Mathematical understanding can be developed through stories, songs, games, questioning, child-initiated leaning, routine, imaginative play and structured teaching.