Broughton Primary School

‘Learning at the Heart of the Community’

Maths Curriculum Intent

Vision

Our curriculum at Broughton Primary School encompasses the following aims to meet the needs of our children and the Maths curriculum is the vehicle to bring these aims to life:

Aims of our curriculum:

• ENGAGE- Pro-actively engage children in their education and help them to be responsible for their successes and achievements both academically and socially

Class teachers will plan using the concrete, pictorial and abstract method to help embed conceptual understanding in the Maths curriculum. This will allow children to make links between each are of learning and encourage children to tackle problems in a variety of ways. Teachers will insure that they will include real life contexts to allow children to see the purpose of their learning. Children will be active learners and will engage in activities both inside and out of the classroom.

• EVALUATE- They will have the ability to evaluate the choices they can make and make conscious decisions based on these evaluations

Children are given opportunities to try a variety of different reasoning opportunities, including dip and pick cards, NCETM problems and challenges that involve the children showing their workings out in a multi- representational way to prove their understanding.  Throughout our lessons, teachers will endeavour to move children on at an appropriate time, or put in extra support to encourage to meet their learning objectives. The children have the opportunity to move themselves on when they feel confident in an area of learning.

• EMPOWER- The children will feel empowered and unafraid of challenge or initial failure

A Broughton, children are encouraged to be ‘have a go heroes’. The teachers initially assess where the children are so that children’s work is pitched appropriately.  Children feel most empowered when they access learning that is pitched appropriately so it is important that their work is pitched appropriately with the correct levels of support and challenge.  Teachers identify those who are need of a little extra support, or need pre-teaching of a new method. These are children are then taken in a small group during catch up time, with a teacher, in the mornings.

• REPONSIBLE- The children will have a developed sense of shared responsibility for things outside their immediate person.

In our Maths lessons we encourage children to use resources that are available to them. This can include, WAGOLLS, use of the maths working wall, practical equipment such as dienes, multi-link etc and reflective marking. Children try a variety of different solutions to a question before asking for support from an adult.  At Broughton we have also developed our own multiplication and number bond challenge books that start in Year 1 to support children in learning their number facts. The children take responsibility for practising these books at home and then are tested at school. Children will then receive a badge when they have completed the current book before moving on. This gives the children a sense of achievement and shows the impact of being responsible towards their own learning. 

• ENJOYMENT-The children will love/ look forward to coming to school (the majority of the time!)

At Broughton Primary School we make sure that we include a variety of opportunities to embed children’s learning. The children take part in regular outdoor maths sessions, where they put their learning into practise. This year we have started to use stories in our maths lessons to act as a different stimuli and encourage children to make links to real life learning. On a Tuesday lunch time, children have the opportunity to attend a Maths club to practise their timetables books. At Broughton we believe that a positive perception of Maths encourages children to achieve their very best.

Implementation

EYFS

EYFS planning is matched to the number and shape, space and measure age and stage appropriate curriculum. The provision includes individual and small group work, and a balance between guided interaction with direct teaching and child-led activities. The teacher and teaching assistant work in small groups to target particular needs such as number recognition and one to one counting. If a child is identified as not understanding something, they are given early support.

In Squirrels class, mathematical language is promoted and incorporated into the learning environment. Key vocabulary is displayed near the appropriate resources and teachers model the use of this. This language is also put on the maths board, for future reference.

In the classroom, children are given short, pacey inputs about their key learning in Maths. They then are given tasks to complete. During the rest of the day they can also access the maths challenge area which is set out for self-directed time.

Children in EYFS are given a lot of opportunity to complete challenges that are linked to real life or their topic. For example children practise capacity in the water tray, with the adult modelling the vocabulary. In their superhero unit they might investigate how fast a child can move etc.

Teachers in EYFS record their mathematical observations on Tapestry, for the children to share with their parents. They are also then given the opportunity to put mathematical learning at home onto this to be shown in school.

Year 1-6

Teachers plan and teach units of work that are based on the National Curriculum and the Hampshire schemes of learning. We have developed our own long term plans, which can be found on the school website and our own planning format. On our planning format, we have made sure the learning journey is very clear for all adults who are working with the children.  It shows small steps that the children will be working through to encourage adults to move children on within the lesson.

As Broughton Primary School is a mixed year group school, we use split inputs and peel away groups. This enables children to access the correct learning at an appropriate time. Our planning is flexible and dependant on the children’s learning the day before. It can be adapted on a daily basis to reflect their learning.

We use tasks from the NCETM, dip and pick cards and White Rose Hub to develop children’s reasoning opportunities. These tasks are woven through the curriculum and are there to support and deepen the children’s learning. We teach the children to show their answers to problems in multi-representational ways and to check their answers. The teachers also plan problem solving opportunities that have a real life context to help children apply their knowledge and understanding.

Throughout our lessons the teacher and learning support assistant, work with groups and mark their work as they go along. The adults then assess whether they need to continue working on the task, move them onto something more challenging or support them with concrete or pictorial methods. We have found that this ‘live marking’ encourages children to work at their own pace and be moved on at an appropriate time. It has also helped to provide earlier support to those children who need extra guidance.

Every morning teachers take small groups for a ‘catch up’ session. These sessions are designed to be used for pre-teaching, assessment or teaching a specific part of maths that the children need extra input on. We have found this extra time with a teacher, in a small group, helps us to identify any misconceptions and allows the children to become more secure in their knowledge. These groups can be reactive to the learning that has taken place the day before and ensures that all children are given the opportunity to feel secure and confident in their learning.

For each new learning journey the teachers update working walls. They put the main learning on the board daily, so that it can be used in the next lesson. The working wall is also used as a learning aid, where children who are looking for extra support can get helpful reminders. It also shows how learning builds from one lesson to another.  Mathematical vocabulary is displayed here, to help support children with using it. This mathematical language is modelled throughout the learning journey.

We have identified the importance of counting within the maths curriculum and have put in a discrete ‘daily count’ session.  During this time children practise counting in a fast paced form. We believe the repetitive nature of this will support children in remembering these patterns and encourage them to use them within their maths lessons. We use the Hampshire progression of counting skills to support teachers in their choice of activities during this session.

This year we have started to teach maths through stories. The teachers pick relevant, exciting texts to stimulate the children’s learning in a given unit. We believe that through the use of books the children are able to put their learning into context and create real life links. Books are also used to create excitement and add interest to our maths lessons.

Another are of development this year is to ensure that, across the school, our children are given opportunities to take their learning outside and to apply it to more practical situations. In doing so, we hope that children are able to draw on their knowledge in a variety of different ways and make their learning purposeful and enjoyable.

At Broughton we use a system of graded booklets to help the children to practise and learn their times tables. This year we have added some additional booklets to provide further challenge and also to assist key stage 1 children with learning their number bonds. These books help encourage the fluency of our times tables. The children receive badges in assembly once they have been tested on their book. We also run a maths club at lunch time where the children can practise their times tables.

For our homework we use an online learning platform, Mathletics. The children are set a few tasks each week to complete that are related to the work that they have covered that week. Teachers can use this as a quick assessment of learning in this unit of work. We use this platform to let parents know what we have been learning during the week. It is a fun and enjoyable way to recall their learning at home.

Assessment

EYFS use Tapestry to record observations and assessments. Using Tapestry is a way of sharing learning with the parents and gives the parents the opportunity to also share their learning at home.

In Years 1-6 we live mark throughout the lesson to allow immediate feedback and adaptions to learning. After the lesson we may also give an RRR (Read, reflect, respond) task which involves the children carrying out a further task to consolidate or check their understanding.  Children’s learning is then recorded on a grid, informally to remind the teacher has got to in their learning.

Teachers use simple questioning as pre-assessments to check children’s understanding before starting a unit. Children are then identified for extra support in catch up sessions.

As a more formal assessment, teachers assess children three times a year, through a maths test. Our judgements of formal and informal assessments are used to then input data onto Target Tracker. For SEND children and other specific groups we put data on six times a year.  We track the children’s learning and have pupil progress meetings. The school also holds parent consultations and sends reports home to share how children are doing.  Throughout the year we attend cluster staff meetings where we ensure that our maths is in line with expectations.