Grove Wood Primary School

Grove Wood Primary School

Strive Positivity Achieve Respect Kindness

Grove Road, Rayleigh, Essex, SS6 8UA

admin@grovewood.essex.sch.uk

01268 743445

MATHS

MATHS

Vision for Mathematics

 

Mathematics is a universal language that is used by cultures and societies the world over. It helps to explain things around us and is an area of study that is at the heart of many other subjects. Mathematics is an essential element of countless jobs and occupations and has played a vital role in the shaping of the modern world, particularly in areas such as medicine, science, technology and business. It is an essential means of communication and a gateway to understanding how the world works.

 

With these things in mind we, at Grove Wood Primary School, aim to teach maths lessons that are engaging, exciting, challenging, cross-curricular and memorable. We believe that all children are capable of achieving a solid understanding of the fundamentals of mathematics and make this one of our highest priorities. We teach our children to become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, reason mathematically and solve problems by applying their mathematical understanding. Our children are taught to use their maths knowledge and skills in different ways and are encouraged to become confident problem solvers and critical thinkers. Learners are taught to understand the importance and purpose of mathematics and lessons are always delivered with high expectations and a high level of challenge. We strive to give children a sense of wonder about mathematics and want all of our learners to enjoy and remember their maths lessons at school.

 

National Curriculum

The National Curriculum for mathematics aims to ensure that all pupils:

  • become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.
  • reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language.
  • can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.

The mastery curriculum that we teach at Grove Wood focuses on these three key areas of fluency, reasoning and problem solving in mathematics, and enables all learners to become successful mathematicians. 

 

Growth Mindset

Growth Mindset is the belief that knowledge, skills and abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work. Growth Mindset is an important part of mathematics lessons at Grove Wood and our learners are always encouraged to:

  • have a go and take a risk, no matter how challenging their work may seem
  • never give up
  • be positive about their work
  • reflect on their learning 
  • challenge themselves
  • strive to achieve personal maths targets

 

Teaching & Learning

Maths lessons delivering the National Curriculum are taught in all year groups every day. In addition to this, a mental maths session is taught every day to all children, focusing on fluency and key mental maths skills. Various interventions and booster groups are also run in each year group on a daily and weekly basis to further support different children’s needs. Children are taught maths lessons in their classes across the school, apart from in years 5 and 6, where they are split four ways to benefit from smaller class sizes and to ensure appropriate pace can be maintained. 

 

Teachers draw on a range of different resources in school to help them deliver engaging and enjoyable lessons. The curriculum objectives are taken from White Rose Hub and teachers are encouraged to use a range of resources to enable children to apply their maths skills in different ways. As part of each unit of work, a significant amount of time is devoted to developing key number concepts each year. This ensures pupils build their fluency as their knowledge of numbers and place value will affect their success in other areas of mathematics. Each lesson begins with a ‘quick starter’, in which children revise previously taught key skills and objectives and a number facts award runs from Year 1 to Year 6 to encourage and celebrate the learning of these skills both at home and in school. Research has shown that pupils who confidently understand number are much more successful mathematicians. In EYFS, the Early Learning Goals are taught using a variety of resources and through practical and thematic learning. In addition, children have number time sessions daily in which they focus on the Early Learning Goals and work though the teddy bear and train numbers challenges. 

  

Units of work often follow the ‘Concrete, Pictorial and Abstract’ approach, whereby children first learn a new concept practically (the concrete), then move onto drawing pictures and diagrams of what they’re learning (the pictorial), before finally representing their learning in a written form using number sentences (the abstract). This helps to embed a deeper understanding of maths in the children’s minds by allowing them to fully understand what a number sentence means. This approach goes hand in hand with our mastery approach to mathematics, and helps to enrich the children’s learning and experience of maths.

 

At Grove Wood we recognise mathematics as a cross-curricular subject and outdoor learning and cross-curricular links are regularly embraced. Teachers  link their maths lessons to other subjects whenever this is possible and children are taught to appreciate maths as a rich, broad subject. Teachers in all year groups make use of our outdoor facilities and often teach maths lessons in other areas of the school. 

 

Maths is used in everyday activities such as keeping time, playing games and buying and selling. At Grove, we plan in opportunities for children to experience maths in real life contexts, including in lessons and also through  maths based projects such as the enterprise fair where the children are allocated a budget and set the task of designing, creating and selling various products and games.  

 

Celebrating maths

At Grove Wood we always celebrate our successes, achievements and positive attitudes towards maths. Each half term one child from each class receives the ‘Maths Master’ award for accomplishment and hard work in maths. This award is presented to the children in a whole school assembly, where they receive a certificate and a maths – based prize. A copy of some of their maths work is displayed on the special Maths Masters display board outside the Key Stage 1 hall. During each Friday assembly, children and classes regularly using Times Tables Rock Stars are shared and celebrated. We also hold times tables competitions where children compete against each other (and adults!) to show their times tables skills and mastery. Children who successfully complete their current number fact award are given certificates in Friday assemblies each week. In EYFS, children who complete their teddy bear and train challenges are awarded certificates to celebrate their achievements. 

 

 

introducing a new Number Facts Award Scheme running from Years 1-6 to encourage the children to learn their times tables and number facts

 

Name
 year 1 Grove Wood Calculation Policy 2021 - multiplication and division (1).pdfDownload
 Year 1 Grove Wood Calculation Policy 2021 addition and subtraction.pdfDownload
 Year 1 Mental Maths.pdfDownload
 year 2 Grove Wood Calculation Policy 2021 - multiplication and division (1).pdfDownload
 year 2 Grove Wood Calculation Policy 2021 addition and subtraction.pdfDownload
 Year 2 Mental Maths.pdfDownload
 year 3 Grove Wood Calculation Policy 2021 - multiplication and division.pdfDownload
 year 3 Grove Wood Calculation Policy 2021 addition and subtraction.pdfDownload
 Year 3 Mental Maths.pdfDownload
 year 4 Calculation Policy 2021 - multiplication and division.docx.pdfDownload
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