Maths

Curriculum Lead - Alicia Ketteringham-McCourt

 

Intent

At Howard Junior School, it is our intent that children become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, reason mathematically and solve problems (as stated by the National Curriculum, 2014). We aim to provide our children with a Maths curriculum that enables them to become independent, inquisitive, enquire and confident learners. 

We believe that children need to be taught a clear progression of mathematical skills to enable them to develop a secure knowledge base for their learning. We know the importance of mathematics in our children’s lives as it is something that is used daily so therefore, is a priority in our curriculum to ensure they receive the high-quality education that they deserve.

Implementation

As a school, we follow the White Rose Scheme of work which is a pedagogical approach to enhance maths skills and problem-solving skills. The scheme focuses on the maths mastery approach where key concepts are fully grasped before moving on.

We use the CPA Approach, whereby pupils have a variety of opportunities to interact and use concrete resources to develop and embed their understanding of key mathematical concepts, as well as this, pupils have the opportunity to use pictorial examples to help further embed their understanding, this is where pupils can use pictures to represent their knowledge and skills. Furthermore, once our pupils' understanding of a concept has been developed using concrete, pictorial resources, pupils will be able to then record and solve problems using the abstract approach. However, to ensure all our pupils have the high-quality education they need teachers know their children and therefore, are aware as to which approach of the CPA their pupils are at, for example, some pupils may require a longer use of concrete resources to support their learning. 

Further to this, our teachers are able to adapt where necessary to ensure that our children fully are competent in each area of mathematics before moving on to the next area. This could be through teaching more lessons as a class or through high-quality interventions led by either a teacher or assistant teacher.

Furthermore, we will be taking part in the maths mastery approach with the Cambridge Maths Hub to ensure that we are receiving the continuous professional development to enable us to teach this approach effectively to our pupils.

 

Impact

Our pupils will develop the confidence and self-esteem to know that they can do maths and develop their curiosity of finding solutions to any misconceptions they may have therefore, developing a love of learning for this subject with a ‘positive can-do attitude’. 

At Howard Junior School, we complete termly assessments using the Pixl assessment framework where as teachers we are able to look at the data analysis to inform us of where our children’s knowledge currently is and where we need to close the gaps. Therefore, this results in our pupils being taught the knowledge they need to ensure they have a high quality education and progress.