Mathematics

What does Maths look like at St Paul's?

At St Paul’s Catholic Primary School, children are encouraged to enjoy Mathematics and become enthusiastic mathematicians by developing skills, knowledge and understanding through practical experiences which have relevance and purpose in everyday situations. It is important that children develop skills to become lifelong learners. They should be able to apply these skills in different situations across the curriculum and in daily living outside school.

In Early Years the children work towards achieving the Early Learning Goals through practical and fun activities. Activities are adult led and support children of all abilities.

In Nursery the children follow master the curriculum which leads into reception, where we follow the mastering number programme provided by the NCETM, supplemented by White Rose maths to ensure full curriculum coverage

Throughout KS1 and KS2 we follow the White Rose Hub mastery planning. We ensure children have the opportunity to use the CPA (concrete, pictorial and abstract) approach to learning. We also teach mastering number in Years one and two, three times a week.

We use KIRFs (Key Instant Recall Facts) to develop the quick recall of key mathematics facts which can be found below.

Concrete

Students work with physical, hands-on objects to represent a problem. For example, they might use apples to represent a word problem about fruit or use blocks to model a calculation. This helps them physically manipulate and understand the concept.

Pictorial

Students use visual representations to model the problem. This could involve drawing pictures, diagrams, or using tools like ten-frames or bar models to represent the concrete objects. This stage creates a mental connection between the physical objects and the abstract concepts.

Abstract

Students use numbers and mathematical symbols to represent the problem. For instance, after using physical objects and pictures, they would progress to writing the equation 20+3=23

Our aims are:

· All children to become fluent in the fundamentals of Mathematics through varied and frequent practice of increasingly complex problems over time.

· All children develop the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.

· All children develop the ability to solve problems through decision making and reasoning in a range of contexts.

· All children develop mathematical language through speaking and listening, practical activities and recording work.

· Children are monitored through termly assessments against the National curriculum standards.

Children are given opportunities to reinforce their mathematical knowledge and make links through the whole curriculum, particularly science, history and geography. Teachers also try to link the children’s problem solving to their current topic where appropriate. To support the learning of times tables Year 2 – 6 have access to Times Table Rockstars.

The results from both the formative assessment and summative assessment is then used to determine children’s progress and attainment.

Support for parents

The best way to support your children at home is to make maths part of every day life. Maths is built on strong foundations and rehearsing simple maths facts is what builds that foundation. You could focus on:

Number bonds (to 10, 20, 100)
Number Facts (Making numbers eg. 7, Doubles facts)
Times tables (up to 12 x 12) and inverse division facts
Looking through homework together
Applying Maths in everyday life (e.g. tell the time, change in a shop,

weighing, measuring)

For further assistance can be found on https://whiteroseeducation.com/parent-pupil-resources/maths/home-learning?year=year-1-new

White Rose maths have provided wonderful home learning videos which can be accessed at home for each small step of learning. Just select the year group applicable in version 3 and find the aspect of maths you require support with.

TTRS

TTRS is a valuable resource used throughout KS2. Encouraging your children to play regularly will increase their times table knowledge in a fun accessible way. You can go on:

Jamming- select table(s), x or ÷ (TIMER FREE), 10,20 or 30 questions

Gig- 100 questions 5 min test results used to set individual’s learning pathway (SHOULD BE DONE MONTHLY)

Garage- adapted by jamming algorithm. Best way to mastering tables. 1,2 or 3 minute games.

Studio- play to get a studio speed & rock status.

Soundcheck- These are set by class teachers as weekly homework. They are a perfect MTC mock up which will prepare the children for the statutory multiplication check . 25 questions 6 seconds per question.

The children have been given their own personal log in. If you require any help with this, please ask the class teacher.