Maths

"Mathematics is the music of reason."
 
– James Joseph Sylvester

Intent

At HCJS, we deliver a Maths Mastery Programme of study based on the White Rose Maths programme. We  aim to offer progression within fluency, reasoning and  problem solving and for children to be masters of content, applying and being creative with knowledge in new ways.         

We provide opportunities for children to challenge themselves and take responsibility for their learning and work to ensure children have instant recall with number facts and times tables.        

We ensure that Mathematical skills and knowledge are linked in other areas of the curriculum where possible and that Mathematical vocabulary is used in the correct way in order to develop their knowledge.

In summary, we strive to ensure that pupils at HCJS  become confident and enjoy their maths.

 

Implementation

Our maths lessons are taught in mixed ability classes and content is delivered in small manageable steps. A Speaking Frame is referred to during most lessons and visible to children (either on the working wall or whiteboard). 

Key vocabulary for the unit is displayed and referred to during the lesson to encourage in-depth explanations. We challenge pupils to make sure that their answers are given in full sentences and that they refer to vocabulary.

An interactive ‘Working Wall’ (display) is available to support children’s learning in every classroom throughout the school; this also supports our aim to ensure that visual images are used by staff and children to model and explain the maths concepts. An excellent range of Maths equipment is available and is used confidently by children and adults when appropriate. 

A variety of fluency, reasoning and problem solving challenges are available throughout each lesson and unit (block) of learning. Although we think it is important that more confident children can start at a later fluency question and be challenged by ‘extension’ work.  Conversely, our teachers ensure that tasks and activities are adapted if a pupil can’t access the learning; in which case extra fluency for groups or individuals may be appropriate.

In addition to our core maths lessons, Times tables and arithmetic are taught discretely several times a week and Catch up inventions are delivered regularly (at least twice a week) to relevant pupils.

Impact

We aim to ensure that HCJS pupils are increasingly:

  • Fluent in the fundamentals of maths.

  • Reasoning using mathematical vocabulary.

  • Solving a wide variety of problems by applying their mathematics confidently.

This will be assessed in the following ways:

  • Listening and assessing children’s verbal explanations.

  • Observing children’s use of equipment to ascertain their understanding of maths concepts.

  • Assessing the written work in their maths books.

  • End of unit mini assessments and end of term standardised tests in December and March.

  • The Learning By Question and TT Rockstars apps  are used to track progress in arithmetic generally and times tables (multiplication) more specifically.