Maths
Intent
Mathematics is a life skill that equips us to make sense of the world around us. These skills are essential to our everyday life, vital to science, technology and engineering and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment.
Our intent is to provide the children of Parkhill Junior School with a mathematics curriculum which equips children with a foundation for understanding number, reasoning, thinking logically, and problem solving with resilience so that they are fully prepared for the future. We want each child to be a High Performance Learner, accessing challenges and opportunities to advance their learning.
At Parkhill, we strive for every child to become an able mathematician who is perseverant and does not give up, a passionate learner who is open to new ideas and willing to change their own ideas should the later be more compelling, a learner who can challenge themselves when faced with complex mathematical problems (Article 28 – Every child has a right to an education).
Implementation
At Parkhill, mathematics is taught daily. Planning is supported by the White Rose Maths hub and our school calculation policy. ‘Times Tables Rockstars’ supports children with developing their memory and recalling skills as well as mastering their times tables.
By using a variety of planning resources we inform teaching and learning experience that interests, informs and inspires our children. Our lessons enable teachers to assess the children’s previous knowledge as a starting point for all future planning. We ensure to deliver high quality maths curriculum that is both challenging and enjoyable. Lessons are designed with a concrete, pictorial and abstract approach which support the scaffolding that children require to progress and also aims at providing the tool for children to progress from concrete to abstract quickly. Tasks are designed to help children master their fluency skills and cultivate their reasoning skills. Children have the opportunity to choose from a range of tasks depending on their ability. This promotes independence and self-reflection opportunities.
Children complete weekly homework to review and improve their learning in order to retain learnt knowledge.
A large emphasis is placed on outdoor learning to enhance the children’s experience of learning and help them to develop their understanding of the world around them and make links to mathematics. During learning time questioning and modelling is used to assess children’s learning and to support them in understanding mathematical concepts. Retrieval tasks are implemented in order for children make links between past and present knowledge by recalling their previous learning. A range of tools are used to assess children’s learning and to further design effective lessons. Feedback is provided regularly through verbal feedback and written feedback. To embed high performance learning in maths children are given maximum opportunities for challenges and support to reach their full potential. We ensure that there are robust methods to identify low attaining pupils and there are strategies in place to help them progress.
Impact
The impact of the maths curriculum will be seen through children mastering skills and demonstrating their understanding in a range of ways using mathematical language to explain their thoughts and independently applying their understanding in new concepts. Children will demonstrate the ability to quickly recall mathematical facts including times tables. They will identify relationships and make connections in mathematics. We hope to that this wealth of learning will support children in their journey and will enable them to use mathematics efficiently in their daily life by using a range of thinking approaches and transferring them one circumstance to the other.