Maths

Intent

At Birchfields, we want our children to become confident, enthusiastic and inquisitive mathematicians who find maths fun and engaging. They are taught skills that they will need to prepare them for everyday problems. We want children to be able to reason and solve problems which will prepare them for everyday life, now and in the future.

At Birchfields, we believe that children must be equipped with the language they need so they can confidently articulate their mathematical thinking. We believe that “Everyone Can Do Maths: Everyone Can!”

KS1 and KS2

White Rose Maths
We use the White Rose Maths schemes of learning as a basis for our Maths planning which we adapt to the needs of our children. At the heart of the White Rose frameworks is the motto “Everyone Can Do Maths: Everyone Can!” The schemes are designed to support a mastery approach to teaching and learning, as well as to cover the objectives and three aims of the National Curriculum of fluency, reasoning and problem solving.

Fluency

'Key learning' for each unit is broken down into small steps. Children become fluent with new concepts through regular practice. To ensure the children are able to work flexibility, they are given a variety of contexts and question types. The children ‘self check’ their work so they are able to learn quickly from mistakes. Each half term, children learn a different recall fact (Maths Key) and are given frequent opportunities to practise these both in school and at home. These recall facts are tested regularly from Year 2 to 6. Birchfields’ calculation and mental strategies policies ensure consistency and progression across the school.

Reasoning

Children are taught to follow a line of enquiry, offer conjecture and develop arguments, justifications or proof using mathematical language. Reasoning is taught throughout the Maths curriculum and is scaffolded to ensure children develop the skills they need to deepen their understanding of the 'Key learning' taught.

Problem Solving

Children are taught to apply learnt mathematical concepts to a variety of problems and contexts with increasing sophistication. They are taught how to break down problems into smaller steps and use a range of models and representations to support their thinking.

Maths Lessons

In KS1 and KS2, children have a daily Maths lesson. Our Maths lessons are designed to be enjoyable, engaging and varied, to help pupils develop a love of learning whilst working towards mastery. We have adopted the White Rose Maths concrete-pictorial-abstract approach to teach Maths.

Concrete

Children should have the opportunity to use concrete manipulatives to help them understand what they are doing.

Pictorial

Alongside manipulatives, children should also use pictorial representations. These representations can then be used to help reason and solve problems.

Abstract

Both concrete and pictorial representations should support children’s understanding of abstract methods.

Mathematical talk and questioning forms the basis for many of our Maths lessons. Learning resources have enabling and extending prompts to both support and challenge children. All children in KS1 and KS2 have a weekly homework task that links to their learning in Maths.

Whole school initiatives like Timestables Rockstars, Marvellous Maths day and the Spring Slam (a multiplication tournament) are used to further motivate and engage the children.