Carlton Colville Primary School

Below is our whole school Maths overview for this academic year. For more detailed information about Maths, please view the termly overviews within each of the year group class pages.

Our Mathematics curriculum is led and overseen by the Mathematics Subject Leader. A regular programme of monitoring, evaluation and staff support takes place along with the celebration and sharing of good practice. The school understands that it is crucial for all staff working with pupils to have both good subject knowledge and good pedagogical knowledge in order to help pupils make the best progress possible in Maths. There is an ongoing commitment to evolve and improve the quality and impact of Mathematics on offer to all the children. 

In accordance with our ‘Mastery’ approach there are no fixed ‘sets’ or in-class groupings used. During our daily lessons we encourage children to ask as well as answer mathematical questions. Wherever possible, we provide meaningful contexts and encourage the children to apply their learning to everyday situations. At all times the policy aims/intention points are the drivers behind the planning and delivery of lessons.

We aim for children to achieve mastery of the key areas and domains in Maths, maximising attainment and progress for all pupils. We believe that conceptual fluency and procedural fluency should be developed in tandem, with neither being at the expense of the other, however we recognize and understand that they do not always necessarily develop at the same time or rate. There are times when one will develop in advance of the other- this is fine so long as the other is not forgotten and continues to develop. The end goal is mastery of both elements. The expectation is that the majority of pupils will move through the programmes of study at broadly the same pace. However, decisions about when to progress will always be based on the security of pupils’ understanding and their readiness to progress to the next stage. Pupils who grasp concepts rapidly will be challenged through being offered rich and sophisticated problems before any acceleration through new content. Those who are not sufficiently fluent with earlier material will consolidate their understanding, including through additional practice, before moving on. We achieve this through a range of strategies, such as the use of differentiated challenges, booster programmes (such as 1^stClass@Number and Success@Arithmetic) and SEN intervention programmes (such as Dynamo Maths, Numicon-Closing the Gap, Plus 1 and Power of 2 1:1 programmes). There is also the use of peer-support pairs and guided or targeted input from the teacher, teaching assistants and learning support assistants. Teaching assistants support all children, based on ongoing formative assessment.

We aim to create a rich and stimulating Maths environment that promotes learning and independence. We develop pupils’ ability to independently select and use appropriate concrete apparatus to support their conceptual understanding and build procedural fluency as part of the ‘Concrete-Pictorial-Abstract (CPA) approach. They have the opportunity to independently access and use a wide range of resources, such as bead frames, bead strings, number lines, Dienes/ Base 10 apparatus, place value counters, Numicon, multilink, place value cards, Cuisenaire rods and other small apparatus to support their work. We develop the children’s ability to represent problems using visualisation skills, jottings and pictorial representations such as Empty Number Lines, the ‘Bar Model’, 100 squares and their own ideas. Mathematical dictionaries are available and their use is encouraged whenever and wherever appropriate. Digital resources may be used in mathematics lessons for modelling ideas and methods.

The school understands that it is crucial for all staff working with pupils to have both good subject knowledge and good pedagogical knowledge in order to help pupils make the best progress possible in Maths. All staff can continually liaise and get support from the Maths subject leader. The work of the subject leader involves supporting colleagues in their teaching, being informed about current developments in the subject, ensuring relevant high-quality CPD is provided and providing a strategic lead and direction for mathematics in the school through an Action Plan (informing the School Development Plan) that is evaluated and reviewed on an ongoing basis.

Where possible we seek to offer extra-curricular and enrichment opportunities to pupils. The nature of these opportunities can vary but may include (and previously has included) such opportunities as:

• Participation in ‘AIM High’ Maths Enrichment sessions involving other schools, delivered by ‘Authors Abroad’;
• Participation in inter-school Maths competitions and tournaments, such as the Inter-School Times Tables Competition and the Eastern Maths
• Confederation Maths Tournament at Lowestoft 6^th Form College;
• Participation in’ Maths Week England’ activities;
• Special Maths Days at school eg ‘The Crystal Maze’ whole school Maths event;
• Maths visitors from industry to run workshops eg Barclays/Halifax;
• Application of Maths knowledge during STEM/Engineering activities/clubs.
   

Assessment
Our bespoke assessment systems enables teachers to make informed judgements about the depth learning and the progress each pupil has made over time. Critically this then enables teachers to identify and therefore address any gaps in pupil’s mathematical knowledge.
Through skilled questioning, teachers pick up on any misconceptions which they rectify through live feedback during the lessons and through marking of pupils' work.

Summative Assessment
We make termly summative judgements of each child’s achievement. Some of the evidence base for these assessments may come from day-to-day class work, but evidence will also come from specific tasks and tests used to assess the depth of understanding, independence and breadth of application shown. We use these judgements to assess progress and achievement against the ‘Milestone Assessment Criteria.’ We identify and target those children at risk of not meeting the nationally expected standard by the end of the key stage and/or not making good progress. These children are discussed in depth at termly pupil progress meetings with the class teacher and subject leader and we make any changes to provision and/or intervene accordingly. We pass all assessment information on to the next teacher at the end of the year, so that s/he can plan for the next school year.

We also make use of other summative assessment materials, such as ‘Progress 9’ and the Dynamo Maths Assessment to help us monitor the impact of interventions such as ‘Success@Arithmetic’ and the Dynamo Maths Intervention.

Formative Assessment
Formative assessment is embedded into each lesson and teachers use formative assessment techniques and strategies on a daily basis in order to identify pupils’ strengths and difficulties, inform the next steps for each child’s learning, modify the teaching and provision and improve the learning outcomes for each child. Short–term planning is constantly reviewed and modified on the basis of these assessments.

There are many ways in which the impact of the Mathematics curriculum intent and implementation are evident. These are not fixed or static outcomes, rather they are fluid and continually changing and developing. Some examples include:

• Pupil attainment and progress is good across the school, with Reception, Year 2 and 6 pupils on track to be at least in line with national standards by the end of their Key Stage.
• Pupils increasingly see themselves as Mathematicians, think like Mathematicians and are developing a confident, growth mindset that ensures effective learning.
• Pupils are generally very positive and enthusiastic about their Maths learning, reporting high levels of enjoyment and showing good curiosity.
• Pupils are increasingly able to use an appropriate range of mathematical vocabulary and mathematical language and are increasingly able to explain their methods and reasoning.
   

Harry - “We’ve been learning how to use subtraction from 10 to help with bigger numbers . For example if you want to do 40 - 7 then you can use 10 - 7,  which is 3, so the answer is 33. Maths is really fun, I find it relaxing.”

Maisie - “Using Base 10 and Numicon really helps me with my learning.”

Azlan - “We’ve learned how to round numbers and also written methods of subtraction with bigger numbers. I’m really good at Maths and it’s quite fun as well.”

Kona - “I’ve practised lots and I’ve got really into Maths.”