Ladybridge Primary School
Mathematics
Find out about our Mathematics curriculum here.
Maths at Ladybridge Primary School
The needs and backgrounds of our children, and the school’s core values, underpin all areas of our curriculum.
Intent
At Ladybridge, our intent for mathematics is to teach a rich, balanced and progressive curriculum, using Maths to reason, problem solve and develop fluent conceptual understanding in each area. Our curriculum allows children to better make sense of the world around them relating the pattern between mathematics and the word around them. Our policies, resources and schemes, support our vision e.g. our calculation policy, White Rose Maths and NCETM teaching for Mastery.
The mapping of Mathematics across the school shows clear progression in line with the National Curriculum and age-related expectations. Pupils are challenged, and we believe in a child led approach, whereby pupils can take ownership of their learning, choosing their own level of task, whilst those who are identified as SEND or underachieving are supported by revisiting learning where needed.
Implementation
Our mastery approach to the curriculum is designed to develop children's knowledge and understanding of mathematical concepts from the Early Years through to the end of Y6. Teaching and Learning, Content and Sequence
In school, we follow the national curriculum and use White Rose Schemes of Work as a guide to support teachers with their planning and assessment. The calculation policy is used within school to ensure a consistent approach to teaching the four operations over time. At the start of each new topic, key vocabulary is introduced and revisited regularly to develop language acquisition, embedding as the topic progresses. Children are taught through clear modelling and have the opportunity to develop their knowledge and understanding of mathematical concepts. The mastery approach incorporates the use of manipulatives, pictures, and words and numbers to help children explore and demonstrate mathematical ideas, enrich their learning experience and deepen understanding at all levels. Regardless of ability, children work on the objective at whatever level of challenge they can access. Children lead their own learning by choosing Mild, Hot or Flamin’ Hot challenges, and can move onto an Extra Spicy Challenge to further deepen their understanding, this should be challenging and ensure that children are using more than just one skill to be able to answer the mathematical problems. Reasoning and problem solving are integral to the activities children are given to develop their mathematical thinking. Discussion is essential to our learning and time is planned into lessons for Kagan structured talk activities. Investigative tasks are designed to allow pupils to follow lines of enquiry and develop their own ideas, justifying and proving their answers. Children work both collaboratively and independently, solving problems which require them to persevere and develop resilience. Resources are readily available to assist demonstration of securing a conceptual understanding of the different skills appropriate for each year group. Children with additional needs are included in whole class lessons and teachers provide scaffolding and relevant support as necessary. For those children who are working outside of the year group curriculum, individual learning activities are provided to ensure their progress.
Assessment informs the teaching and learning sequence, and children work on the objectives they are assessed as being at, revisiting key concepts where necessary. Feedback is given on children’s learning in line with our feedback policy. Hot marking allows misconceptions to be addressed and corrected within the lesson. Formative assessment within every lesson helps teachers to identify the children who need more support to achieve the intended outcome and who are ready for greater stretch and challenge through planned questioning or additional activities. At the end of each mathematical unit, and occasionally part way through, children complete post-learning assessments which allow teacher to assess current learning and also which areas need revisiting. In order to support teacher judgments, children are assessed using current and reliable tests from White Rose, which match the expectations for each term. Summative assessments are completed at the end of the academic year and reported to parents in the end of year report. Working with SLT, key data is analysed and regular feedback is provided, to inform on progress and future actions.
Impact
The impact of our mathematics curriculum is that children understand the relevance of what they are learning in relation to real world concepts. Our Maths books have a range of activities showing evidence of fluency, reasoning and problem solving. Our feedback policy allows children to address misconception ‘in the moment’; they attempt problems and choose the best equipment they need to facilitate learning. Children are developing skills in reasoning verbally, pictorially and in written form. Our school standards are high, we moderate our books as a staff group, and children’s achievements are improving.