Maths

“Embracing our values today… to be a successful part of the world tomorrow!”

Maths

Subject Lead - Mrs Charlotte Allen

The Intent, Implementation and Impact of our Maths Curriculum.

Intent

All pupils can achieve in mathematics! There is no such thing as a ‘Maths person’, or in the belief that some pupils can do maths and others cannot. Maths is a journey and long-term goal, achieved through exploration, clarification, practice and application over time. At each stage of learning, children should be able to demonstrate a deep, conceptual understanding of the topic and be able to build on this over time. At South Farnborough, we believe that children should be able to select which mathematical approach is most effective in different scenarios.

Implementation

Multiple representations for all!

Concrete, pictorial, abstract

Objects, pictures, words, numbers and symbols are everywhere. The mastery approach incorporates all of these to help children explore and demonstrate mathematical ideas, enrich their learning experience and deepen understanding. Together, these elements help cement knowledge so pupils truly understand what they have learnt.

All pupils, when introduced to a key new concept, should have the opportunity to build competency in this topic by taking this approach. Pupils are encouraged to physically represent mathematical concepts. Objects and pictures are used to demonstrate and visualise abstract ideas, alongside numbers and symbols.

Concrete – children have the opportunity to use concrete objects and manipulatives to help them understand and explain what they are doing.

Pictorial – children then build on this concrete approach by using pictorial representations, which can then be used to reason and solve problems.

Abstract – With the foundations firmly laid, children can move to an abstract approach using numbers and key concepts with confidence.

A typical Maths lesson will provide the opportunity for all children, regardless of their ability, to work through Fluency, Reasoning AND Problem Solving activities. We scaffold our children’s learning through the school by helping them to progress in different skills at three level: apprentice, competent and expert whereby the level of support given and the amount of creativity and deeper thinking is adapted in order to help them to meet the objectives. This is apparent both across the whole school approach and also within each academic year.

Impact

Children should have increasing enjoyment, resilience, understanding and attainment in maths, which prepares them for the wider world. Part of this, is developing their ability to reason and explain to others- a key skill in life- as well as investigating to ensure that they do not take things at face value, but seek to understand them. By the time they leave us, they should have:

quick recall of facts and procedures
the flexibility and fluidity to move between different contexts and representations of mathematics
the ability to recognise relationships and make connections in mathematics

We aim that children can master the maths curriculum so that they deeply understand mathematical concepts by showing concepts it in multiple ways, using the mathematical language to explain their ideas, and by independently applying the concept to new problems in unfamiliar situations.