At Seton Community Primary School we believe that mathematics equips pupils with a uniquely powerful set of tools and develops an ability to calculate, reason, and solve problems. It enables children to understand and appreciate relationships and patterns in both number and space in their everyday lives. We believe that maths should be purposeful, and children are made aware of its importance in real-life contexts, for example, in its use in science, technology, and engineering and in most forms of employment. Here at Seton, we want to ignite a sense of curiosity, excitement, and interest towards the subject of mathematics. We want to develop positive attitudes towards maths where learners are resilient and embrace challenges. We want to develop learners who can communicate and understand sophisticated mathematical vocabulary. The use of appropriate vocabulary is modelled throughout the lessons by both staff and children, allowing everyone to ‘talk like a mathematician’.
INTENT
Here at we Seton we are ambitious for our learners to:
EYFS
In EYFS, we use the Reception White Rose Scheme of learning. This scheme supports us to deliver a curriculum that embeds mathematical thinking and talk. Key mathematical concepts are revisited and developed throughout the year. Play based opportunities are carefully planned and provided by our Early Years team. The learning environment both inside and outside, is set up to create a stimulating space where children feel confident, secure, and challenged in their mathematical thinking. Learning experiences provide children with the opportunity to explore, use their senses and become independent in their mathematical learning.
In Early Years, we learn to form our numbers by using number formation rhymes. This continues in Key Stage 1 and the children begin every maths lesson by writing their numbers in their books, which continues throughout Key Stage 2.
Key Stage 1 and 2
In our mixed aged classes, we follow the National Curriculum using the White Rose schemes of learning for curriculum planning to ensure progression across year groups; adapting them to suit the needs of our children. It is a scheme of work recommended by the DfE and NCETM (National Centre of Excellence for the Teaching of Maths), which promotes a mastery approach to mathematics. The White Rose overviews are designed to support a mastery approach to teaching and learning. In addition to this, they have been designed to support the aims and objectives of the National Curriculum. The overviews have number at their heart. A large proportion of time is spent reinforcing number to build competency. It ensures teachers stay in the required key stage and support the ideal of depth before breadth. It ensures pupils have the opportunity to stay together as they work through the schemes as whole groups, and it provides plenty of opportunities to build reasoning and problem-solving elements into the curriculum. This scheme helps children become ambitious and fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, to be able to reason and to solve problems.
Number Fluency
A key objective at Seton is to develop and secure number fluency in each child. Having a good working memory and fluency of number is vital for children to be able to reason effectively and achieve mastery in mathematics.
Retrieval Practice
Retrieval practice plays a vital role in our maths curriculum at Seton. This is the act of recalling a piece of information without having anything to prompt you. This gives children opportunities to have to try and remember things they have previously learnt. Each time pupils try to do this, that memory will become a bit stronger and a bit easier to find next time.
IMPLEMENTATION
At Seton we use the White Rose Maths Schemes of Learning as a starting point to develop a coherent and comprehensive pathway through the mathematics curriculum. Our Mastery Curriculum incorporates the 5 big ideas for teaching mastery. This model is used to ensure that children are given opportunities to develop their own skills and are exposed to each area on a constant basis.
We are dedicated to enabling our children to achieve academic mastery in mathematics and we do so by using a Concrete - Pictorial - Abstract approach. As shown in the Calculation Policy, children will first use physical objects to represent mathematical concepts before moving to pictorial representations, and finally abstract representations (e.g. numerical symbols).
This enables our children to build strong foundations in their understanding of maths, which is vital to master the subject. Teachers model different ways of representing the solutions to a problem to develop children’s conceptual variation and reasoning skills. Children should be encouraged to move between these different stages (sometimes returning to concrete or pictorial) to fully understand the mathematical concept.
It is understood that, within a unit of work, the time spent on teaching a specific learning objective or set of learning objectives depends on the needs of the children in the class. The structure of the maths lessons may vary, depending on the nature of the topic and the activity planned. Where possible, teachers pre-empt ‘big’ misconceptions that many children will have e.g. rectangle/oblong has four lines of symmetry (diagonals). Teachers will use all the sophisticated mathematical vocabulary and models, images, and concrete resources to aid learning. Effective plenaries are only part planned as misconceptions only arise during the teaching of the lesson. However, all plenaries refer to the learning outcome and the success criteria in a meaningful way, allowing children some time for self- assessment.
We ensure that across each term children are given a range of experiences in mathematics lessons e.g. practical activities, mathematical games, group problem solving activities, individual, group and whole class discussion activities, open and closed tasks. Within this we ensure that children can use a range of methods to calculate and have the ability to check whether their chosen methods are appropriate, reliable and efficient.
To achieve number fluency, we are active participants of the Mastering Number Programme which starts at EYFS, Year 1 and Year 2. This is delivered four times a week in 10 sessions. It allows children to clearly communicate their mathematics ideas and make good progress towards the Early Learning Goals and year group expectations.
Retrieval practice is built into our maths curriculum daily. During early morning work children in class 2, 3 and 4 complete Fluent in Five; they complete these questions at their own pace. These questions are different each day and are marked with the children. Misconceptions are addressed straight away. It is incorporated in lessons using the Flashback 4 resource in Years 1 to 6. It is split up into four questions: question 1 is from the last session; question 2 is from last week; question 3 is from 2 to 3 weeks ago and questions 3 is from last term/last year. It also includes a bonus question which recaps topics such as telling the time, Roman numerals and times-tables. Learning by questions (LBQ) is used in Key Stage 2 to help the children remember and apply previously learnt knowledge to questions. This allows children to develop their confidence in answering fluency, problem-solving and reasoning.
IMPACT
Ongoing assessment for learning
The teacher refers to the learning objective and the success criteria throughout the lesson to gauge progress and at the end of the lesson assess progress. The learning objective and success criteria should be visible throughout the lesson to ensure the children have clarity of the learning focus. Teachers monitor and assess children throughout the lesson, and through marking their work, identify any misconceptions that need to be addressed. Children are expected to self-assess against the learning objective and success criteria using the traffic light system, identifying what they have done well and how they could improve. Using the maths pathways, children can track their learning journey. Pathways included topics, objectives, key vocabulary, and assessment covered throughout each term; helping to develop independence and ownership of learning.
Marking
The quality of marking is crucial. All work is marked to show the children where they have success and where errors have been made. We celebrate the successes made within a piece of work; we pick up on misconceptions/errors and we provide next steps to provide further challenge.
Formal Assessment
In order to identify any gaps or misconceptions, we use White Rose Maths End of Block Assessments. We use PUMA Rising Stars assessment to track children’s progress across the year. Children take one test each term (one in Autumn, one in Spring, and one in Summer). Each year group completes these tests so that children above, at, and below the expected standard can be monitored and intervention can be implemented where necessary. We also use White Rose termly progress tests to see how each child is progressing in relation to the topic covered during that term. These include arithmetic and a reasoning paper. In years 2 and 6 we practice and use old SATS papers to assess the children and it allows the children to get used to the layout of the papers. These are then scrutinised to identify gaps and misconceptions.
Reporting to parents
Parents are given the opportunity to discuss their child’s progress on three official occasions but understand that the school’s ‘open door’ policy enables them to address concerns throughout the year. Reports are completed before the end of the summer term. Teachers use the information gathered from their assessments to help them comment on individual children’s progress.
Maths Curriculum Map at Seton 2023-2024
Seton Maths Progression Skills Map 2023-2024
Seton Maths Vocabulary Map 2023-2024
Here at Seton Community Primary School, Times Tables Rock Stars (TTRS) is used alongside regular teaching of times tables. Children from Year 1 to Year 6 have access to TTRS. This is a system children use to practise instant recall of multiplication and division facts. When it comes to times tables, speed and accuracy are important – the more facts a child remembers, the easier it is for them to complete harder calculations. TTRS is a fun and challenging programme designed to help children master times tables. Research shows that daily practice is the best strategy for children to learn these important facts. Short bursts of daily practise are much more effective than spending hours practising once a week.
At Seton Community Primary School, children from EYFS to Year 6 have access to NumBots. Children use this system to boost recall and understanding of number bonds and addition and subtraction facts (critical foundations in maths). To get the best out of NumBots children should regularly play for short bursts, 3 minutes four or five times a week.