Mathematics

At Prince of Wales, we believe that Maths is an essential part of everyday life. Learning is, therefore, focused on children securing a strong conceptual understanding of maths and developing the fluency and self-confidence required to apply their mathematical knowledge to creatively solve problems. Through providing opportunities for children to experience real-world problems and uses of maths, children are able to practise applying their mathematical skills and see their value.

Aims

We aim to sustain and develop a rich curriculum in mathematics to develop pupils’ enjoyment and interest in Mathematics and an appreciation of its contribution to all aspects of everyday life by providing a range of meaningful experiences. We aim for children to develop fluency in mathematical fundamentals such as number and arithmetic so they can later apply these skills in a range of contexts. We want to ensure pupils use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and reason mathematically, including identifying patterns, making generalisations and justifying and proving their ideas. We aim to support children to bring together their fluency and reasoning skills to solve routine and non-routine mathematical problems

Our Maths Curriculum

Our curriculum is supported by the main principles of Teaching for Mastery in association with the high-quality learning tools that the NCETM and White Rose Maths Hub provide. Mastery practices that support all pupils, especially those with EAL, include: 

• the teaching of precise mathematical language
• the use of concrete and pictorial representations to explore concepts
• planning for small steps in learning
• providing sufficient practice to allow children to learn and embed key facts. 

We carefully select White Rose Maths and NCETM materials that enhance variation, reasoning and problem-solving opportunities and providing depth for all.

We have adapted the White Rose curriculum and NCETM materials to suit our school in two principal ways. Firstly, we want to place increased emphasis on mental maths to ensure that children become fluent and flexible in a range of mental methods. As such, we have mapped specific mental methods and key recall facts across particular terms in each year group. Secondly, to help children remember what they have learnt, we have built in additional opportunities for children to review their prior learning.

Maths Teaching

We consider mental maths to be especially important in all year groups across the school. As such, all maths lessons begin with a short counting session (this may include fractions and decimals as children get older, as well as times tables and counting in multiples of 2, 5 and 10 etc.). In addition, mental maths is further developed with specific time set aside in maths lessons to learn key recall facts: these include number bonds for younger children and times tables for older children. We also develop children’s fluency and ensure they do not forget what they have learnt by giving them several opportunities every week to practise the most essential skills, primarily related to number and calculations, that they have already learnt. Arithmetic is practised throughout the week; during lessons and during specific arithmetic slots.
Children are to taught to problem solving and think critically through high quality teacher modelling through the use of ‘I see problem solving’ and White Rose Hub materials.