Maths
Intent
At St Breward we use a mastery approach to maths teaching. This is a research-driven teaching and learning method that meets the goals of the National Curriculum. Our scheme of work follows the White Rose Education and is supplemented with additional fluency work from 99 Club, Times Tables Rockstars and Numbots, and additional reasoning and problem solving from NCETM and our local Maths Hub.
Key points
- Puts numbers first: Our curriculum has number at its heart, because we believe confidence with numbers is the first step to competency in the curriculum as a whole.
- Puts depth before breadth: we reinforce knowledge again and again.
- Encourages collaboration: children can progress through the schemes as a group, supporting each other as they learn.
- Focuses on fluency, reasoning and problem solving: it gives children the skills they need to become competent mathematicians.
At the heart of our mastery approach is the Concrete Pictorial Abstract (CPA) approach. Research shows that when children are introduced to a new concept, working with concrete physical resources and pictorial representations leads to a better understanding of abstract concepts.
Implementation
We provide daily maths lessons that last between 50 and 60 minutes. During these sessions children work through a carefully planned and progressive curriculum. Our lessons lead our pupils through a journey from fluency (including varied fluency) in to reasoning and problem solving.
Each lesson has a clear learning objective and there is a high expectation that pupils understand and use the correct vocabulary. Pupils have access to concrete resources to support their learning and pictorial representations are encouraged before moving on to abstract methods (see our calculation policy for more details).
Fluency
We believe that children need to be fluent in mathematical skills. In mathematics, fluency builds on a foundation of conceptual understanding, strategic reasoning, and problem-solving to achieve automaticity. Children connect conceptual understanding with strategies and methods and use the methods in a way that makes sense to them .
When students go through these stages to build fluency, they gain an understanding of the operations and the strategies and methods in their toolbox for solving them, and they become strategic thinkers who can efficiently compute arithmetic.
You can support your child with their maths fluency using online resources:
- Addition and subtraction calculation policy 1
- Maths Progression at St Breward School
- Multiplication and Division calculation policy
Mastering Number
This year (2024-25) the children in Reception and Key Stage 1, will be taking part in the Mastering Number programme. This project aims to secure firm foundations in the development of good number sense for all children from Reception through to Year 1 and Year 2. The aim over time is that children will leave KS1 with fluency in calculation and a confidence and flexibility with number. Attention will be given to key knowledge and understanding needed in Reception classes, and progression through KS1 to support success in the future.
Impact
Children gain a secure understanding of mathematical concepts through our mastery curriculum. At the end of each unit, children complete an end of unit assessment, this is then repeated 2 weeks later to ensure children have securely embedded the information. We also use summative assessment via PUMA tests carried out once a term. At the end of Key Stage 2, children take their formal SAT tests. These comprise of an arithmetic and 2 reasoning papers. In Year 4, children complete the Multiplication Check. More information about assessment can be found following the link below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/multiplication-tables-check-information-for-parents
