Maths

 

Maths at Messingham

At Messingham Primary School we recognise the importance of a high quality mathematics curriculum. We follow a mastery approach in order to allow every child to succeed.

 

At Messingham Primary School we recognise the importance of a high quality mathematics curriculum. The following policy guides the planning, teaching and assessment of the subject. This policy should be read in conjunction with other policies and documentation including Marking and Feedback and Homework.

 

Intent:

Mastery maths that is  Practical, provides challenge and teaches Skills to help learners achieve.

“At Messingham we teach a mastery of maths through practical activities, mathematical exploration and discussions. We work towards all children becoming fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics they need to be able to recall and apply their knowledge rapidly and accurately. We prioritise mathematical reasoning and problem solving by teaching this regularly so pupils can apply these skills to a range of contexts. We give pupils opportunity to demonstrate and develop confidence with maths by incorporating our schools value of the month into our lessons and modelling perseverance, collaboration and determination. We strive to develop independent mathematicians who express curiosity and enjoyment for maths through a shared understanding of the importance of maths in everyday life and are well equipped to apply their learning into real life contexts and within the wider world.”

 

 

 

Maths Policy Overview:

 

 

Aims

 

  • To follow Maths Mastery to support all learners to achieve and make progress.
  • For children to become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics so that they are able to recall and apply their knowledge rapidly and accurately.
  • For children to be able to reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, hypothesising about relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language.
  • For children to be able to solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing complexity.
  • For children to be able to demonstrate and develop effective learning behaviours and values such as: perseverance, collaboration, questioning and organisation.
  • For teachers to be well trained in maths mastery to best support our pupils.

Maths lessons at Messingham:

 

Teaching and Learning

 

At MPS we roughly follow the White Rose Maths Hub scheme of work through a bespoke plan that we have created for our school. We teach Maths with:

 

  • A belief that every child can and will achieve mastery
  • A bespoke MPS medium term plan
  • Focused tasks following our Master, Challenger and Expert progression
  • Math’s Interventions for both KS1 and KS2 children
  • An understanding that children will be taught reasoning and problem solving skills
  • Up-to-date working walls
  • The use of Concrete – Pictorial – Abstract
  • A focus on mathematical vocabulary
  • The use of Times Tables Rockstars (TTRS)

 

Planning

  • Teachers use the MPS Bespoke medium term plans.
  • Teachers use White Rose Maths to break each objective down into small steps.
  • A large range of resources are used to give pupils variation including NCETM, White Rose Maths, Classroom Secrets and Twinkl as well as to provide tasks to suit the children’s needs and learning.
  • Short term planning will be flexible and responsive to the children’s needs that are identified through every day formative assessment.
  • When introducing a new concept to children in all year groups it is important that teachers provide pupils with practical, pictorial and abstract representations of the concept as well as opportunities to reason and apply the new skills learnt in an unfamiliar or challenging context.

 

Teaching

  • Resources to support children should be available in every classroom and the children should be taught how to self-select equipment that could support their learning.
  • Teaching Assistants should support children’s learning within the lesson.
  • Staff will all have high expectations of all children and ensure that they are challenged at an appropriate level and that they can achieve their full potential.
  • Each classroom should have a maths ‘working wall’. Items on the wall should help to support children with independent learning and could include: key vocabulary, reminders of how to solve a problem or examples of children’s successful work.

 

 

Assessment

Maths is assessed regularly through various means.

  • Teachers gather ongoing evidence during lessons, through the use of AfL techniques, observations and marking and feedback which contributes to their assessment of children against the criteria set out in the National Curriculum.
  • Y2 – Y6 will have termly maths tests with Y1 pupils taking the Spring and Summer maths tests. Y1 teachers will make their own assessments for the Autumn term.
  • Teachers use the ‘Maths Framework Assessment Tracker’ to track children’s progress and gaps in learning which the Maths leader then tracks and analyses.

 

SEND and Maths:

 

At Messingham Primary we understand that children need a variety of support in regards to mathematics teaching and learning. Quality First Teaching is always our priority within a lesson and SEND children are supported through differentiated learning tasks to support their participation and development which may be through additional support, manipulatives being used to support learning or a supported task at their level. There are opportunities for Maths interventions daily for all children during our dedicated intervention time slot.

We know there are some children who are not ready to start learning the objectives at their year group or who will benefit from being taught in a smaller group at a steadier pace with a smaller class ratio. Therefore we have set up ‘The Den’ where children are taught by a highly skilled HLTA and class teachers who follow the Maths planning directed by the year group teachers at our school. This suits the needs of the individual children in ‘The Den’. This could be through a more predominant use of manipulatives or through specific tasks chosen in workbooks that match the White Rose Maths scheme that is used across the whole school. Children are supported to catch up in their mathematical understanding while in ‘The Den’ so they can be integrated back into class once ready. This has had a significant impact in the past year as the majority of children had built up a bank of skills and self-esteem to allow them to return to study in their own national curriculum year.

 

Summary of SEND Support:

  • Visual aids for learning Inc. number stack/practical resources
  • Scaffold using pictorial representation and key mathematical language
  • Modelling to the children (WAGOLL)
  • Small steps tracker plus maths tracker
  • Small group work and pupil conference
  • Same objective but supported via staff or differentiated task to meet objective
  • Support for global development delays via the Den – same lesson/tweaked
  • Maths Mastery – small steps broken down, using bespoke long term plan for each year group

 

Monitoring and Reviews:

 

Maths Leader’s Role:

The mathematics leader (Mrs Kerry Lakin) has a responsibility for monitoring the standard of the children’s work and the quality of the teaching in mathematics, as well as a responsibility for supporting colleagues in the teaching of mathematics. The maths leader will keep an up to date record of the action plan for improving the subject, relevant and analysed school data, evidence of subject monitoring and any other information relevant to the subject or role. 

The monitoring that is carried out at MPS by the maths leader (Kerry Lakin) or other members of SLT in school will be; book looks, learning walks, lesson observations, pupil progress meetings, across year/school moderations, resource inventories and training for staff.

 

Governing Body:

 

The Math’s leader will meet with the maths link governor (Mr M Smeaton), to ensure Governors are up-to-date with Maths at Messingham Primary School. The Head teacher will also regularly share data with the Governors as well as this being discussed in SLT meetings.

 

 

For any questions or concerns around mathematics please speak to Mrs Kerry Lakin the Maths Lead at Messingham Primary school.

 

EYFS MTP

Y 1/2 MTP

Y 3/4 MTP

Y 5 MTP

Y 6 MTP

EYFS Progression of Skills

As part of NSPCC Number Day, we ‘Dressed for Digits’ and had lots of fun with maths challenges whilst raising over £200 for the NSPCC!

“The NSPCC Number Day was really fun because it made maths into fun challenges! My favourite activity was where we had to find the keys!” Ava, Year 3
“I learnt that the NSPCC helps children who are in need.” Oliver, Year 4
“I wore number 21 because that’s my favourite number!” Sophia, Reception