Maths

Children from Reception to Year 6 are taught mathematics daily, following the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)  and National Curriculum.

In the EYFS, there are two aspects of the Mathematics Area of Learning and Development. These are:

  • Numbers
  • Shape, Space and Measure

In the National Curriculum, which is taught to all children from Years 1-6, there are nine areas of learning. These are:

  • Number and Place Value
  • Addition and Subtraction
  • Multiplication and Division
  • Fractions, Decimals and Percentages
  • Measures
  • Geometry
  • Statistics
  • Ratio and Proportion (Year 6)
  • Algebra (Year 6)

Mathematics is a highly interconnected subject. Therefore, as well as learning these areas in-depth discretely, pupils are taught to make connections across mathematical ideas to develop their fluency, reasoning and problem-solving skills.

Intent

Our intent for mathematics is:

  • To ensure that each child leaves our school as a competent, confident mathematician, ready to embrace new challenges;
  • To enable children to be self-motivated and keen to extend and develop their learning further;
  • To foster positive attitudes, fascination and excitement through the teaching of mathematical concepts;
  • To develop opportunities for all learners to reason about mathematical concepts, be creative in their approaches to problem solving and to solve increasingly complex problems in each strand of mathematics;
  • To ensure that all learners are provided with rich, challenging activities to stimulate creative thinking and application of skills and knowledge.

Implementation

Mental Methods

Mental strategies for different calculations are explicitly taught in maths sessions and reinforced in daily number facts / arithmetic sessions. Over time children learn how to use models and images, such as empty number lines, to support their mental and informal written methods of calculation. As children’s mental methods are strengthened and refined, so too are their informal written methods. These methods become more efficient and succinct and lead to efficient written methods that can be used more generally. By the end of Year 6, children are equipped with mental and written methods that they understand and can use correctly.

By year 4, all children are expected to be able to recall their times tables (up to 12 x 12) fluently. To support children with this, we utilise weekly ‘times tables races’ competitions (from year 2 onwards) and use ‘Times Tables Rock Stars’ to encourage learning at home for all children from year 1 onwards (refer to home learning policy)

Written Methods

During daily maths lessons, children are expected to use mathematical vocabulary to discuss their work. This is modelled by all staff in the classroom. They return to the different areas of mathematics regularly so that their learning is constantly reinforced and they have plenty of opportunity to apply their skills. Children are initially introduced to mathematical concepts through the use of concrete resources and pictorial representations, before recording in an abstract way, as demonstrated in the progression guidance below. In addition to developing skills, children are given the opportunity to apply their understanding in frequent reasoning and problem solving tasks. When a range of strategies have been taught, it is expected that the children will choose the method that they are most comfortable with and can use efficiently.

For further information about how we teach the four operations in Marshfield Primary School, please refer to our Calculation Progression documents, which are available to download below.

Calculation Progressions – Addition

Calculation Progressions – Subtraction

Calculation Progressions – Multiplication

Calculation Progressions – Division