Maths
Maths Curriculum Intent:
At Hexham First we are using a Mastery Approach to Maths teaching. Mastery is what we want pupils to acquire (or go on acquiring), rather than teachers to exhibit, we use the phrase ‘teaching for mastery’ to describe the range of elements of classroom practice and school organisation that combine to give pupils the best chances of mastering mathematics. Mastering maths means acquiring a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of the subject. At any one point in a pupil’s journey through school, achieving mastery is taken to mean acquiring a solid enough understanding of the maths that’s been taught to enable him/her move on to more advanced material.
We recognise that Maths can be a subject that adults and children can feel they are ‘good at’ or ‘not good at.’ We want the children in our school to see Maths in less black and white terms and to recognise that making mistakes and understanding misconceptions are useful and necessary stepping stones to developing their ‘Maths brains!’
A central component in the NCETM/Maths Hubs programmes to develop Mastery Specialists has been discussion of Five Big Ideas, drawn from research evidence, underpinning teaching for mastery. This is the diagram used to help bind these ideas together:
At Hexham First we use the White Rose scheme to support us in our teaching and learning. It has Interactive Whiteboard resources that we discuss and work through with our class. There is a great emphasis on using lots of different methods and a wide range of physical resources to solve problems and on using fluency, reasoning and problem solving in every lesson.
We also use elements of NCETM and Math's Hub resources to support our planning and to ensure children are given a range of activities.
The school also uses ‘Big Ideas’ for each year group; they focus on the knowledge children should have by the end of the year.
Our school played an active role in writing the Partnership Calculation Policy and staff also refer to this in their teaching, ensuring that children encounter a range of representations that will support their learning once they transition to Middle School.
We will make every effort to share methods that are used in class with parents. Please let us know if you would are unsure of how to best support your child with their maths.
Maths Impact:
At Hexham First children make good progress in Maths.
Pupil voice surveys show that children in our school enjoy Maths and understand that explaining mathematical thinking and talking about mistakes really helps them learn. The children use a wide range of concrete resources and are able to draw dienes, bar models etc to support their working out.
Children enjoy the challenge of problem solving and in 2019 they took part in a Maths Problem Solving Day with Liz Bailey, where children had to solve Maths Puzzles in order to earn crystals.- A-guide-to-division.pdf
- A-guide-to-fractions.pdf
- A-guide-to-multiplication.pdf
- A-guide-to-place-value.pdf
- A-guide-to-subtraction.pdf