Mathematics is a creative and highly inter-connected discipline that has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems. It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. A high-quality mathematics education therefore provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.

Developing a strong grounding in number in the Early Years is essential so that all children develop the necessary building blocks to excel mathematically. Children should be able to count confidently, develop a deep understanding of the numbers to 10, the relationships between them and the patterns within those numbers. By providing frequent and varied opportunities to build and apply this understanding - such as using manipulatives, including small pebbles and tens frames for organising counting - children will develop a secure base of knowledge and vocabulary from which mastery of mathematics is built. In addition, it is important that the curriculum includes rich opportunities for children to develop their spatial reasoning skills across all areas of mathematics including shape, space and measures. It is important that children develop positive attitudes and interests in mathematics, look for patterns and relationships, spot connections, 'have a go', talk to adults and peers about what they notice and not be afraid to make mistakes.

Mathematics at Launton CE Primary School aims to equip pupils with the uniquely powerful set of tools to understand and change the world. These tools include logical reasoning, visualisation, problem solving skills and the ability to think in abstract ways. Mathematics is integral to all aspects of life and we endeavour that children will develop a positive and enthusiastic attitude towards mathematics that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

It is vital that a positive attitude towards mathematics is encouraged amongst all our pupils to foster confidence and achievement in a skill that is essential in our society.  We use the National Curriculum for Mathematics (2014) as the basis of our mathematics programme. We are committed to ensuring that all pupils achieve a deep understanding of the key concepts of mathematics, appropriate for their age group, in order that they make genuine progress and avoid gaps in their understanding, which provide barriers to learning, as they move through education.

Questioning, feedback and assessment, an emphasis on investigation, problem solving and the development of mathematical thinking and a rigorous approach to the development of teacher subject knowledge are essential components of our approach to this subject.

Our Maths curriculum is based on the mastery approach and the belief that everyone can do mathematics.  It provides breadth and balance, is relevant and engaging and is differentiated to match the needs and abilities of all our children to ensure that all pupils are able to keep up not catch up. As a school, we believe in the importance of following the concrete-pictorial-abstarct approach as a means to developing a solid understanding of mathematical concepts which can be applied in a variety of contexts through reasoning and problem solving challenges.

We follow the teaching sequence outlined by the White Rose Maths Hub schemes of learning. This ensures that a coherent, consistent approach is adopted in all year groups provides teachers with notes and guidance on how to enhance their teaching of the subject along with key vocabulary, questions, discussion and teaching points. The White Rose Maths Hub schemes of learning reflect the content of the Updated Statutory guidance for Foundation Stage Early Learning Goals and the National Curriculum for Maths.  

The curriculum is broken down into small manageable steps to ensure that each lesson has a clear focus. This avoids the cognitive overload that can occur when too many concepts are covered at once and ensures that each lesson contributes to the long-term goal. Within each lesson, children have the opportunity to acquire, practice, apply and deepen their knowledge and skills as appropriate.  Pupils who grasp concepts rapidly are challenged by being offered rich and sophisticated problems to deepen their understanding. Concepts are revisited over time so that children can reinforce them and embed them into their long- term memory. Teachers have the flexibility to spend longer on specific skills or concepts if they feel it is necessary.  

All children are included in whole class lessons and teachers provide scaffolding and relevant support as necessary. Children who don’t make expected progress are identified quickly and gaps are closed usually within the lesson or at least on the same day.  Teachers are aware of common misconceptions that may occur during each small step and are prepared for these when they arise. For those children who working outside of the year group curriculum, individual learning activities are provided to ensure their progress in discussion with the SENCO.

Outside of school, children are encouraged to learn number bonds and times tables using ttrockstars and Numbots websites.

National Curriculum Progression

The impact of our mathematics curriculum is that children understand the relevance of what they are learning in relation to real world concepts. We have fostered an environment where Maths is fun and it is OK to be ‘wrong’ because the journey to finding an answer is most important.  They are fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry and can solve problems by applying mathematics to a variety of problems.

Developing a strong grounding in number is essential so that all children develop the necessary building blocks to excel mathematically. Children should be able to count confidently, develop a deep understanding of the numbers to 10, the relationships between them and the patterns within those numbers. By providing frequent and varied opportunities to build and apply this understanding - such as using manipulatives, including small pebbles and tens frames for organising counting - children will develop a secure base of knowledge and vocabulary from which mastery of mathematics is built. In addition, it is important that the curriculum includes rich opportunities for children to develop their spatial reasoning skills across all areas of mathematics including shape, space and measures. It is important that children develop positive attitudes and interests in mathematics, look for patterns and relationships, spot connections, ‘have a go’, talk to adults and peers about what they notice and not be afraid to make mistakes.

Mathematics

Number

Children at the expected level of development will:

Have a deep understanding of number to 10, including the composition of each number;
Subitise (recognise quantities without counting) up to 5;
Automatically recall (without reference to rhymes, counting or other aids number bonds up to 5 (including subtraction facts) and some number bonds to 10, including double facts.

Numerical Patterns

Children at the expected level of development will:

Verbally count beyond 20, recognising the pattern of the counting system;
Compare quantities up to 10 in different contexts, recognising when one quantity is greater than, less than or the same as the other quantity;
Explore and represent patterns within numbers up to 10, including evens andodds, double facts and how quantities can be distributed equally.

The principal focus of mathematics teaching in key stage 1 is to ensure that pupils develop confidence and mental fluency with whole numbers, counting and place value. This should involve working with numerals, words and the four operations, including with practical resources.

At this stage, pupils should develop their ability to recognise, describe, draw, compare and sort different shapes and use the related vocabulary. Teaching should also involve using a range of measures to describe and compare different quantities such as length, mass, capacity/volume, time and money.

By the end of year 2, pupils should know the number bonds to 20 and be precise in using and understanding place value. An emphasis on practice at this early stage will aid fluency.

Pupils should read and spell mathematical vocabulary, at a level consistent with their increasing word reading and spelling knowledge at key stage 1.

The principal focus of mathematics teaching in lower key stage 2 is to ensure that pupils become increasingly fluent with whole numbers and the four operations, including number facts and the concept of place value. This should ensure that pupils develop efficient written and mental methods and perform calculations accurately with increasingly large whole numbers.

At this stage, pupils should develop their ability to solve a range of problems, including with simple fractions and decimal place value. Teaching should also ensure that pupils draw with increasing accuracy and develop mathematical reasoning so they can analyse shapes and their properties, and confidently describe the relationships between them. It should ensure that they can use measuring instruments with accuracy and make connections between measure and number.

By the end of year 4, pupils should have memorised their multiplication tables up to and   including the 12 multiplication table and show precision and fluency in their work.

Pupils should read and spell mathematical vocabulary correctly and confidently, using their growing word reading knowledge and their knowledge of spelling.

The principal focus of mathematics teaching in upper key stage 2 is to ensure that pupils extend their understanding of the number system and place value to include larger integers. This should develop the connections that pupils make between multiplication and division with fractions, decimals, percentages and ratio.

At this stage, pupils should develop their ability to solve a wider range of problems, including increasingly complex properties of numbers and arithmetic, and problems demanding efficient written and mental methods of calculation. With this foundation in arithmetic, pupils are introduced to the language of algebra as a means for solving a variety of problems. Teaching in geometry and measures should consolidate and extend knowledge developed in number. Teaching should also ensure that pupils classify shapes with increasingly complex geometric properties and that they learn the vocabulary they need to describe them.

By the end of year 6, pupils should be fluent in written methods for all four operations, including long multiplication and division, and in working with fractions, decimals and percentages.

Pupils should read, spell and pronounce mathematical vocabulary correctly