Mathematics

Intent

At Salisbury Manor Primary School, we aim to provide high-quality mathematics education to all our pupils. Our approach to mathematics supports our key aim of challenging pupils so they can become confident, independent and enthusiastic mathematicians. They will meet National Curriculum expectations in mathematics, which will be taught by highly- enthusiastic qualified staff who will support children to develop concepts and inspire enthusiasm and interest in mathematics. Our maths curriculum has been specifically designed to ensure regular opportunities for consolidation in order to identify recalled knowledge, as well as immediately address gaps. Within lessons, they will develop into independent learners with inquisitive minds who have secure mathematical foundations and an interest in self-improvement. Through the use of practical objects, such as cubes, pupils have a better understanding when solving abstract questions, such as word problems. We strive to empower our pupils by equipping them with the key skills necessary to allow them to go deeper into their maths learning, developing strong reasoning and problem-solving skills. Above all, we intend to give our pupils the opportunity to appreciate mathematics in its wider, real-life context and to be able to apply their maths skills beyond school life.

Implementation

At Salisbury Manor, we use White Rose Maths in Years 1-6, which has been written to support teachers in all aspects of their planning.  Through this, children explore number with increasing depth so that they see numbers as a way of interpreting and understanding the world around them. Children are introduced to numbers through a variety of representations so that they can recognise the numerals and the amounts. Once this is secured, children start to manipulate numbers through simple operations, such as basic addition and subtraction. Children readily access practical resources and visual representations to scaffold their learning and which allow them to talk about what they know and have learned. Vocabulary in the EYFS is essential to the development of confident mathematicians, in number and across all other strands of maths. As a result, the maths provision in the EYFS focuses on discussion to allow children to develop their understanding of the everyday language of shape, space and measures. Whilst maths is taught daily within a discrete maths lesson, opportunities are planned for child initiated learning through available resources and provocations.

Impact

Our mathematics curriculum is based upon White Rose resources which are fully supported by the Department for Education as they meet the requirements of the new curriculum. It provides all the elements that teachers need to teach maths mastery with confidence and to encourage children to talk using maths language. We strive to ensure that by the end of their primary education, all pupils can demonstrate a secure knowledge of number, calculate fluently and with good understanding, articulate patterns and relationships as well as logically deconstructing problems in order to solve them. We aim for pupils to see the purpose and significance of all areas of maths so that they can analyse new information and apply their maths skills to their own lives on a daily basis.

We measure the impact of our curriculum using the following methods: 

A reflection on standards achieved against the planned outcomes 
Termly Progress in Understanding Mathematics Assessment (PUMA) which is a suite of termly standardised maths tests which enable school to track progress, predict future performance and benchmark against national averages 
Pupil discussions about their learning

We will enhance children’s cultural capital by using money, telling the time and knowing about shapes, how to add and subtract, multiply and divide. Using real-life problems is an excellent way to show pupils the validity of their maths knowledge.