Maths

Intent

At St Clement’s & St John’s CE Infant School our vision is for all children to have equal opportunities to develop the mathematical foundations needed to be skilled and articulate mathematicians in life within and beyond school. We want each of our children to develop true fluency, reasoning and problem solving skills through a curriculum that is meaningful and that will engage and excite confident mathematicians who have a passion for number.

We believe that a high-quality mathematics education should provide a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject (National Curriculum for Mathematics 2014).

The aim of our Mathematics teaching is;

• To develop pupil’s fluency in the fundamentals of Mathematics through varied and frequent practice so that, over time, they develop confidence in their conceptual understanding and their ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately. We then want the children to have confidence in applying their mathematics to a variety of problems with increasing sophistication. We want our children to have the confidence to be risk-takers within their learning.
• To inspire pupil’s curiosity in Mathematics and a deeper level of thinking. We want our children to ask questions, to notice things within their Maths and to ‘wonder if’. We want our children to develop and follow their own lines of enquiry because they have a desire to find out more!
• To develop creativity in the pupils’ Mathematics. We support the children in finding and creating new ways to solve routine and non-routine problems and to persevere in seeking solutions.

Implementation

 The National Curriculum is at the core of our maths curriculum here at St Clement’s and is taught through the Big Maths programme.  The Big Maths Scheme was brought into our school in September 2015 as a way to develop our children’s mathematical foundations including their conceptual understanding and their ability to recall and apply knowledge.

The Big Maths approach uses basic Mathematical skills as the foundation for all mathematical concepts and develops true fluency, reasoning and problem solving skills in a fun and engaging way. Big Maths helps our children to understand the links between core numeracy (the basic principles that underpin all maths) and outer numeracy, which is the application of these core principles. Big Maths is a rigorous, systematic and structured approach that provides the children with fun and lively experiences as they learn through songs, games and the Big Maths characters.   

The Big Maths approach provides small, learning steps within larger progress drives. These progress drives cover all aspects of the Mathematics curriculum to counting and addition to shape and measures and take the children on a progressive journey from the beginning of Reception to the end of Year 2. The scheme encourages mathematical talk and the movement between concrete, pictorial and abstract representations to allow for a deeper learning experience. Children are much more able to see what they are doing when working out calculations and can easily make connections, consequently building the knowledge to explain and reason about their learning.

These small learning steps and progress drives are taught through four, 20 minute CLIC session each week. KS1 children receive and an additional 40-minute lesson covering calculation, shape, space or measure whereas children in EYFS continue to develop their skills through teacher led and child initiated games and activities. All children also receive an additional 15 minute SAFE (Shape, Amounts, Fractions, Explaining data) session each week as revision or as preparation for the following week’s learning. Teachers also plan for cross-curricular mathematics opportunities wherever possible such as collecting data in science.

The Big Math Scheme also provides a comprehensive calculation policy, which demonstrates to teachers a format to follow when teaching new concepts. At St Clement’s and St John’s Infant School, we believe in all children having the opportunity to develop their Mathematical knowledge and skills through a variety of experiences and problem styles. Therefore, we also draw upon examples from other schemes (e.g. White Rose) and resource banks (e.g. NRICH, NCTEM) to compliment the children’s learning and achieve this variety in learning opportunities. 

We regularly review, assess and adapt our Mathematics scheme and curriculum to make sure that it remains exactly what the children need in becoming confident mathematicians. More information can also be found within our Mathematics Policy in regards to the teaching of Mathematics at our school.

Impact

We aim for all children to achieve age related expectations in Mathematics at the end of EYFS and KS1 and for all children to have made good progress in their journey to becoming skilled and articulate mathematicians. Additionally, we aim for our higher attaining children to reach an Exceeding/Greater Depth level in their Mathematics at the end of EYFS and KS1.

Over the past 5 years, the impact of the following the Big Maths approach has proven to achieve what we set out for it to do. It has hugely developed our children’s mathematical foundations including their conceptual understanding and their ability to recall and apply knowledge. Additionally, the children are really developing their ability to explain and reason about their learning.

Impact is measured and can be viewed in a number of ways at St Clement’s School, including the following;

• Within the children’s CLIC and Maths books
• Weekly Learn It’s (recall) and CLIC challenges
  (Data it collated on the Big Maths Profile and analysed by teachers and SLT)
• Termly Assessments (e.g. SATs papers in Year 2)
•  Standardised Assessments (SATs)
• Pupil progress meetings
• Performance management meetings
• Moderation - in house, across Coastal Learning Partnership and at BCP moderation events (Year 2).