Intent

Here at Thorpe Lea, we aim to develop the teaching and learning of Maths and implement the use of effective questioning and daily counting to support mental arithmetic. Our aim is for all children to be appropriately stretched and challenged with a focus on ensuring pupils have opportunities to extend their learning and further develop their mathematical skills with a focus on reasoning and fluency.

Our intention is to provide a high-quality, comprehensive and challenging Mathematics curriculum that introduces children to concepts, skills and thinking strategies that are essential in everyday life. We aim to provide children with the skills to make sense of the numbers, patterns and shapes they see in the world around them; offer ways of handling data in an increasingly digital world and makes a crucial contribution to their development as successful learners. As their confidence grows, the children will be able to look for patterns, use logical reasoning, suggest solutions and try out different approaches to solving problems. 

Implementation

Maths is taught daily from Nursery to Year 6.

In the Foundation Stage, our children are provided with a range of exciting and innovative activities both indoor and outdoor. Our experienced Nursery and Reception teachers have created an Early Maths curriculum in light of the new 'Early Years Development Matters'. There is a mix of adult-led and child-initiated activities supporting the development of number and shape. We provide frequent and varied opportunities to build and apply these skills through the use of manipulatives and problem solving in the real world. 

Our Key Stage 1 and 2 teachers are supported with their planning, teaching and assessing through Abacus Active Learn. As well as our daily, differentiated teaching of the curriculum we also carry out same day interventions for children who need further support and run more able Maths groups weekly; focusing on Mastery Maths. 

We ensure our curriculum is differentiated and progressive across each year group and across the school. The use of practical equipment supports children to develop a deeper conceptual understanding to allow them to be challenged through tasks and have the confidence and ability to solve a range of problems and explain their reasoning.

We carry out daily counting in EY/KS1 and daily times table practice in KS2. We use Times Table Rock Stars to support the learning and retention of times tables. It is a carefully sequenced programme which allows children to master and become rock stars with their times tables. 

Same day interventions run daily for children who have not been able to grasp the concept of the lesson/ task. More able groups are run to extend and further challenge our more able learners to continue to develop their fluency and reasoning skills. These interventions are run by both learning support assistants and class teachers.

Impact

Learning walks, books looks and pupil conferencing are carried out half termly to ascertain correct curriculum coverage, high-quality teaching and learning, as well as the children's retention of learning and attitude towards Maths. Internal and external moderations are carried out throughout the year to identify children who are yet to make expected progress. This will then support us in adapting and developing our curriculum accordingly. 

A range of methods are used to discover what our children know and understand.

Abacus Active learn provides us with a range of formative and summative assessments through appropriate questioning, differentiated tasks and end of topic assessments. Our Early Years children will be assessed against the Early Years Learning Goals. Through these assessments we can evaluate children's understanding of taught concepts and can, in turn, address any misconceptions or gaps in learning. Once this is identified teachers will plan for these to be addressed in the up coming lessons or during tailored interventions. This ongoing assessment and support will allow all children to achieve their potential as mathematicians.

Our same day interventions allow for immediate impact to take place. Children's misconceptions are identified through questioning and marking, and will be addressed in the same day. If the child has still not understood the concept after the intervention, and needs further support, this will be noted on our 'Same day intervention log and feedback sheet' and further support will be provided the next lesson. If we identify further gaps in learning then tailored interventions will be created to support the learning.