Mathematics Intent, Implementation and Impact

Intent

To enable all children to develop fluency, problem solving and reasoning skills so that they enjoy Maths and can confidently apply their mathematical skills in real life and across the curriculum.
At The Reddings Primary and Nursery school, we endeavour to ensure that our children are given all the tools and resources required to become confident mathematicians through a resource based and engaging Maths curriculum. We understand that Maths is a vital tool that everyone needs to use throughout their lives and we aim to give children a platform in which they can excel through secondary school and later life.

We aim for the children to be given the opportunity to develop their mathematical understanding, improve fluency and build on their problem solving abilities and to develop their mathematical reasoning skills. We teach the children through an inquiry approach which gives them the opportunity to solve problems multiple ways and understand the how and why behind a mathematical concept. By allowing children to achieve this, we are giving them the ability to use the skills they have learnt and to then transfer them to any section of the Maths curriculum.

At first, children are given the appropriate scaffolds for them and taught how to use them effectively. However, as they progress through the school, they are guided towards becoming more independent and understanding themselves what they will need to use in order to achieve the learning intention.

Maths is well known for being an overwhelming subject for some children but, through the use of careful and considerate planning, we hope that all children feel success throughout the Maths curriculum of study.

Implementation

Here at The Reddings, we understand that for children to be enthusiastic about a subject, this needs to stem from the adult leading the session. Therefore, the curriculum is based on giving teachers the opportunity to plan engaging and captivating lessons for their children. Teachers use
appropriate mathematical language to stimulate the children and encourage them to do the same to develop their vocabulary.

We follow the Herts for Learning Essential Maths scheme where the emphasis is on allowing children to expand their mathematical thinking. Essential Maths consists of sequences that have step-by-step guidance to support teachers in covering the entire Maths curriculum. These plans
include examples of how concrete and pictorial representations can benefit a child’s learning as well providing opportunities for children to develop their thinking for mastery.

Children are taught Maths lessons every day for between 45 minutes and 1 hour. The learning sequences provided by Essential Maths vary in length considerably with some units only needing a couple of lessons but more complex areas taking over a week. The sequences are broken down into steps to aid teacher planning. However, these steps do not correlate with lessons that need teaching as some steps can be merged together whilst others could take a couple of days. To aid teachers in this, children also participate in Maths Meetings which are used as additional lessons
lasting 20-30 minutes. These are an opportunity for teachers to focus specifically on a skill or area that children are struggling with. They can also be used as a review on something that children have studied a while ago but is about to be revisited. As classes get towards the end of a year, these Maths Meetings will be a vital time for them to practice test style questions. This will be extremely important for years 2 and 6 who will be preparing to undertake the end of key stage exams.

Each sequence is planned with progression and consistency in mind and you can see the progression as children move up the school. Using place value as an example, Year 1 has a focus on numbers up to 20. This moves up to 100 for Year 2 and 1000 by the end of Year 3. This level of progression continues up to the end of Key Stage 2 where children are expected to be confident using numbers up to 10,000,000. The plans also give teachers an indication on what the children should be achieving if they were hitting age-related expectations. This is done through the use of
destination questions where children answer questions based on the learning they have done. These aid teacher assessment for learning and show exactly where children are in a unit.

Teachers use assessment for learning throughout lessons to identify children who need a scaffold or another type of further support. Documents have been created with the Key National Curriculum Statement for each sequence which teachers update regularly. This allows them to look at the
class or term as a whole and ensure that any gaps in learning are recognised and work is done to close these.

Children are taught in a way that allows them to understand the reasoning behind how an answer is found through the use of manipulatives. At first, this is highly scaffolded with teachers choosing appropriate resources giving children the best possible chance of succeeding in the lessons. Children from all year groups are actively encouraged to use manipulatives and resources around the room. As children become confident with using a variety of manipulatives, they will be allowed to be more independent in understanding exactly what they need in order to help them. This leads
further onto children being able to solve problems in the abstract and not needing a concrete or pictorial approach.

Impact

Children will strive to achieve age related expectations across the school in Maths and make good progress each year. Teaching and planning is adapted for children not yet accessing the full curriculum by giving them scaffolds and tools that they need to achieve success in the subject.

Through pupil voices, children will be able to show a variety of strategies they can use in Maths and their focus will be on the thinking behind how they will find the answer.

Children will understand that Maths will continue to be part of lives as they navigate the outside world and should feel confident that they can rely on the skills that they have acquired to help them through this.

Overcoming Barriers

EYFS

Mathematics Intent, Implementation and Impact

Intent

Implementation

Impact

Overcoming Barriers

EYFS

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6