INTENT

Our curriculum at Fremington Primary School aims to develop the skills our children need to become creative, independent and empowered learners who are excited and curious about the challenge mathematics presents.

The teaching of mathematics at FPS centres around a mastery approach, encouraging the development of reasoning, problem solving and fluency skills through a ‘small steps’ approach where each lesson builds on the learning of the previous lesson. We use White Rose as a spine; it’s ambitious and connected curriculum ensuring high quality coverage that is consistent throughout the school. Practical provision, mathematical experiments, and a personalised approach means that all children are challenged to exceed their potential through learning how to learn and develop their mathematical skills, knowledge, and understanding.

We also believe that it is important for children to realise how empowering mathematics can be and so our curriculum aims to give children ‘real world’ contexts, challenging them to consider different approaches and viewpoints; extending their learning beyond a surface level understanding. We want to nurture creativity in all aspects of their learning and so children will be taught to notice, reason, justify, generalise and communicate by applying their mathematics to the world around them. That might be using their mathematical skills to help plan our school vegetable garden; calculating how long it would take us to walk to the moon; or discovering how much lava the average volcano can hold.

At the heart of our maths curriculum is the belief that all children deserve the opportunity to explore, create, and be curious about the world around them in a nurturing environment that develops their interests and challenges their potential.

IMPLEMENTATION

By using White Rose as our curriculum spine, it provides consistent representations across the school to ensure that children are secure in the underlying structure of maths. Our teaching follows the ‘concrete, pictorial, abstract’ approach throughout the school to help children understand the abstract nature of mathematics and the key concepts. The use of key manipulatives in Key Stage One develops a secure understanding of the mathematical concepts, while giving children in Key Stage Two ownership of their learning by using the manipulatives to hook back to previous learning when needed.

It is our belief that effective learning builds on the learning of the previous lesson, the previous unit, the previous year; by following the sequence of White Rose we are ensuring that our children are understanding the fundamentals before moving on to the more advanced. For example: place value needs to be understood before addition and subtraction, which needs to be understood before multiplication and division. By using small steps, not only within each unit but also through their mathematical learning journey across the school, children can feel empowered by their learning and confident in their abilities.

Variation is also at the heart of our mathematical teaching. It is our belief that children learn in different ways and we want to ensure that all children are targeted in our teaching. Through representing concepts in multiple ways, not only are critical aspects drawn attention to while developing a deep and holistic understanding, it is also ensuring that all children can be confident in their ability to access our curriculum. Variation also helps children learn to make connections, by encouraging them to question what is the same, what is different, and why, they are naturally making links between mathematical relationships and structures.

At FPS we use a range of stem sentences to give our children the building blocks to communicate their mathematical ideas and opinions; helping them find value in their voice and self-confidence in their abilities. Our curriculum emphasises the need for lots of opportunities for children to talk – to both adults and peers alike. Stem sentences provide children with a structure to help communicate concisely and efficiently, while also exploring their own thoughts and expanding their mathematical vocabulary.

IMPACT

Here at FPS we want every child to have the confidence to be curious about everything that surrounds them and ask ‘why?’ as many times in the day as they can. Maths develops the problem solving, resilience, and critical thinking needed to find the answers to those questions. We do not want Maths to only apply to the arithmetic questions on a sheet of paper – rather we want to encourage the children through our teaching to think about Maths creatively in order to apply their learning to the world around them.

In following White Rose with its sequencing and small steps, the children can feel confident going into Year 2 and Year 6 SATs, as well as when they make the move up to secondary school. By giving the children the tools to progress they can feel empowered by their own capabilities as they encounter difficulties; whether they are in their primary journey or higher education.

We want our children to find independence through Maths and realise that they have the power to shape their own learning, their future, and their dreams. Whether they want to be a vet, an astronaut, or a fire fighter, children need to understand that Maths is everywhere in our world and we strive to show children all the possibilities this presents. A high-quality mathematics education 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 – this what we endeavour to provide for our children.

 

 

The below attachment includes our history progression statements for across the school.