Maths
Mathematics teaches children how to make sense of the world around them through developing their ability to calculate, reason and solve problems.
Mathematics is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. A high-quality mathematics education therefore provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.
We aim to support children to achieve economic well-being and equip them with a range of computational skills and the ability to solve problems in a variety of contexts.
Aims
The national curriculum for mathematics aims to ensure that all pupils:
- Become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including the varied and regular practice of increasingly complex problems over time.
- Reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, understanding relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language.
- Can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.
White Rose Maths
As a school, we have decided to follow White Rose Maths. The White Rose scheme of learning is designed to support a mastery approach to teaching and learning, as well as to support the aims and objectives of the National Curriculum. The White Rose scheme has number at its heart and a lot of time is spent reinforcing number to build competency. It also provides opportunities to build reasoning and problem-solving into each lesson. White Rose believes that all children, who are introduced to a concept, should have the opportunity to build on their abilities by following a concrete-pictorial-abstract approach.
Concrete – Children should have the opportunity to use mathematical objects to help them envisage what written numbers represent.
Pictorial – Children should have the opportunity to use pictures as representations to continue to support them in visualising what written numbers represent.
Abstract – Abstract learning is the use of digits and words to represent numbers.
Calculation Policy
The policy below from White Rose shows how abstract learning builds upon a good foundation of concrete and pictorial methods.
Pakeman-Times-Tables-Policy-October 2022
Problem-Solving and Reasoning
A large part of the maths curriculum involves problem solving and reasoning.
At Pakeman, we have daily problem-solving questions and a weekly problem-solving lesson. Problem-solving can help children to build confidence in their mathematical ability and to work more systematically to organise information, find patterns and ultimately find solutions through independent and collaborative learning.
Children are expected to identify what is important and unimportant in solving a problem and to explain or justify their solution. This is known as reasoning.
Supporting Children at Home
In order to practise skills learnt in the classroom, it is essential that children revisit their learning at home. Children receive weekly maths homework, which is linked to their current unit of learning in the classroom. We provide a number of online learning resources that children should use regularly at home.
Purple Mash
Purple Mash includes 11 varied and engaging maths games, covering everything from times tables to fractions. They are perfect for introducing a new topic or reinforcing learning at home.
Click here to log in.
Times Tables
We expect all children at Pakeman to have a secure grasp of the multiplication tables. Just like learning to walk before you can run, learning multiplication and memorising the times tables are building blocks for other maths topics taught in school – such as division, long multiplication, fractions and algebra. We explicitly teach and assess times tables. We recognise that pupils who do not memorise the times tables will find many aspects of maths much more difficult than they need to be. We therefore ask parents/ carers for support in helping their children to learn the multiplication tables.
The table below shows the expectations for each year group:
Children can practise times tables using the online platforms above. All year 4 children will have their multiplication skills formally tested in the summer term of year 4. They will have 6 seconds to answer each question. To practise taking times tables tests, please click here.
Intervention Groups
At Pakeman, we have additional support staff to help children with their learning.
Children who have gaps in their knowledge are supported through our intervention groups and boosters before, during and after school.
We also provide intervention groups for more able children. These small groups challenge, stretch and extend pupils in their maths skills.
