At Marlow Church of England Infant School, our aim is for all children to enjoy mathematics and have a secure and deep understanding of key mathematical concepts when they move to their next step in education.

Intent

We want our children to have an awareness of the maths that surrounds them every day and enjoy learning vital skills in this subject.

Our mathematics curriculum is both accessible and challenging for all of our learners, and we strive to provide this by creating a variety of practical and hands-on learning experiences which we believe can support even the most disadvantaged of pupils to explore and apply their Maths skills and knowledge in fun, engaging contexts.

At Marlow C of E Infant School, it is our intention that all of our pupils become increasingly independent in making connections and links between different concepts, and we provide plenty of opportunities for mathematical reasoning and problem-solving, to allow our children to develop their conceptual understanding.

We encourage the pupils to

• Foster a sense of enjoyment and resilience
• Persevere and remain patient when faced with a problem.
• Learn to solve problems in many different ways, using different methods.
• Talk, using high quality language
• Reason and justify, practising voicing their opinions and sharing their approaches with each other.
• Listen to each other’s ideas, acknowledge different approaches and reflect on which approach is most suitable.
• Develop a love maths and enjoy it

In addition to teaching mathematics skills, it is our intention for the pupils to learn about themselves as learners and develop their personal qualities. We teach pupils to have the confidence to approach problems, the ability, perseverance and resilience to solve problems, good communication skills to work with others, the curiosity to question what they are told and the honesty to reflect on their own and others’ approaches. 

Implementation

At Marlow C of E Infant School, we follow a mastery approach to delivering our maths curriculum.  In Key Stage 1, each year group follows the objectives outlined in the National Curriculum, and we use the scheme White Rose Maths to support the planning and delivery of our lessons.

In Reception, the statutory Early Years Foundation Stage Framework and non-statutory guidance contained in 'Development Matters' provides support for the planing of learning.  Teachers use White Rose resources in lessons and play learning.

As part of our mastery approach, children are exposed regularly to fluency, reasoning and problem-solving.  Lessons are presented clearly through PowerPoint and pupils have ample opportunity, regardless of ability, to access and show greater depth challenges with the support of the class teacher and teaching assistant.  We do not put a cap on pupils’ learning and have high expectations of all of our pupils so that all they have the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life.

Language is a crucial to our mathematics curriculum and at Marlow C of E Infant school we ensure that our pupils are exposed to a range of mathematical vocabulary across the school which is displayed and shared in lessons.  Talk and use of vocabulary is central within lessons across the school and pupils are encouraged to explain their thinking using ‘because’ to demonstrate their understanding and promote discussion.

Within lessons and independent learning, pupils have access to concrete resources to help them embed and understand new knowledge and develop a deep understanding of a newly taught concept.  

It is our intention that all of our pupils become increasingly independent in making connections and links between different concepts, and we provide plenty of opportunities for mathematical reasoning and problem-solving, to allow our children to develop their conceptual understanding.

Within Reception and Key Stage 1, pupils develop their fluency skills and have access to ‘one-minute maths’ to practise and consolidate their subitising, number and place value, addition and subtraction as well as their multiplication and division skills (KS1).

 

Impact

The impact of our intent and implementation means that all pupils are able to work towards achieving their true potential because as a school we:

•  Stimulate and challenge all pupils to extend their attainment in Maths.
•  Create an atmosphere of exploration and excitement starting in the Foundation Stage, so that a genuine love for maths and a desire to learn and find out more is developed.
•  Maintain a high level of interest and motivation through enthusiastic teaching and creative teaching strategies.
•  Promote independent learning and confidence in maths through initial direct teaching of the     whole class, progressing on to pair and individual problem-solving and investigations.
• Encourage co-operative learning in order to promote social and leadership skills.
• Develop mathematical knowledge and understanding so the pupils can explain and reason about mathematics and apply their knowledge practically to everyday experiences.
• Giving equal opportunities to all, by using data analysis from the Learning Ladders, that are appropriate and relevant to each individual and build on their previous experiences.
• Embed a mastery approach to teaching maths, ensuring our maths lessons (learning steps) are heavily practical, and an exploratory approach is taken to learning, allowing the children to understand the meaning behind the mathematical concepts they learn and deepen their knowledge.
• Develop mathematical skills and concepts and use a creative approach to apply them across the whole curriculum.

 

As a result, pupils achieve well and the maths outcomes for the expected standard at the end of Key Stage 1 are significantly above the National Average. This means that pupils are well-prepared for Maths learning as the move forwards in their education and future lives