Mathematics
Mathematics teaches children how to make sense of the world around them through developing their ability to calculate, reason and solve problems.
Mathematics is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. A high-quality mathematics education therefore provides 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.
What does the national curriculum say about mathematics?
The national curriculum for mathematics aims to ensure that all pupils:
- become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.
- reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language.
- can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and no routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.
How do we teach mathematics in school?
The three aims of the national curriculum for mathematicss are to develop fluency, reasoning and problem solving.
We use a mastery approach to maths, which means that topics are taught in depth giving opportunities for pupils to master taught concepts as well as recap on previous learning. Children have the opportunity to both explore new learning, practise concepts and strategies and develop accuracy and efficiency with methods. They are also provided with rich opportunities to apply their understanding through a wide range of reasoning and problem solving situations.
How is progression achieved?
We have long and medium term plans that detail the progression expected across each year group. This enables pupils to develop their mathematical knowledge and skills in a structured way. As the children progress through school, they will be continually challenged to tackle problem solving and reasoning style questions. Children will revisit mathematics from the previous day, week, month, term or even year during retrieval practice sessions, in order to reinforce the substantive knowledge and skills. This allows us to ensure children make progress, are supported well and are challenged.
Children can find mathematics difficult because it is abstract. The CPA approach builds on children’s existing knowledge by introducing abstract concepts in a concrete and tangible way. It involves moving from concrete materials, to pictorial representations, to abstract symbols and problems.
Concrete is the “doing” stage.
During this stage, students use concrete objects to model problems. Unlike traditional mathematics teaching methods where teachers demonstrate how to solve a problem, the CPA approach brings concepts to life by allowing children to experience and handle physical (concrete) objects. With the CPA framework, every abstract concept is first introduced using physical, interactive concrete materials.
Pictorial is the “seeing” stage.
Here, visual representations of concrete objects are used to model problems. This stage encourages children to make a mental connection between the physical object they just handled and the abstract pictures, diagrams or models that represent the objects from the problem.
Abstract is the “symbolic” stage, where children use abstract symbols to model problems.
Children will not progress to this stage until they have demonstrated that they have a solid understanding of the concrete and pictorial stages of the problem. The abstract stage involves the teacher introducing abstract concepts (for example, mathematical symbols). Children are introduced to the concept at a symbolic level, using only numbers, notation, and mathematical symbols (for example, +, –, x, ÷) to indicate addition, subtraction, multiplication or division.
Mathematics at Hetton Lyons Primary School
At Hetton Lyons Primary School/ we have high expectations for every child. Teaching for mastery is essentially the expectation that all pupils will gain a deep understanding of the mathematics they are learning. From EYFS onwards, children are taught to use a range of resources and pictorial representations to support their understanding of concepts and methods.
As part of the mastery approach, we follow White Rose Maths from EYFS to Y6.
One easy way you can support your child’s maths learning is to get them to help with the mathematics you do in everyday tasks.
- involve them in weighing out ingredients in the kitchen
- ask them to help add up the shopping bill
- see if they can work out how long it is until the next bus arrives
- read a TV magazine and work out how long a programme is on for, or how long between their favourite programmes
These simple tasks help the children see the everyday application of mathematics. Using fun games, songs and activities with children will also really help with learning together.
Another way to help your child would be to support them with their times tables. Times tables are an integral part of mathematics and therefore, it is vitally important that children have a grasp of their tables up to 12 x 12 by the end of Y4. With this in mind, we are promoting the use of an online programme called Times Table Rockstar, which the children in KS2 have a personalised login for. As part of the programme, children battle other children, classes and even the teachers to see who is the ultimate Times Table Rockstar Champion.
Are there any useful websites for parents and children?
Children learn best when they practice a new skill in lots of different exciting ways, both in school and at home. For this reason, the staff and children at Hetton Lyons have put together a list of ‘useful’ websites that help with learning in maths. The websites include lots of resources and games which help children practice their mathematics skills.
Times Tables Rock Stars is a maths programme that takes all the worry out of learning times tables and has a proven track record of boosting children’s fluency and recall in multiplication and division.
Wild Maths is aimed at 7 to 16 year olds who wish to explore maths beyond the classroom. It provides rich and open-ended resources, designed to encourage exploration, and to hone your child’s creative thinking.
Maths Frame offers Interactive maths resources exploring number and pattern. The games are all designed around the curriculum. They are simple to understand and can be differentiated to suit your child’s needs.
You have probably seen this amazing collection of resources already. The Bitesize collection covers years 1 to 10 and maths content is organised daily based on specific learning objectives. Several Maths-Whizz activities are featured among them.
White Rose Home Learning Is a prepared series of five online lessons each week to help your child with their studies at home. Every lesson comes with a short video showing you clearly and simply how to help your child to complete the activity.
IXL Maths and English Practice
These curriculum skills-based activities will help keep your child’s core skills simmering. The exercises tend to be short and focused, ideal for your child to practice essential skills at their own pace through fun and interactive questions.
This huge library of mathematical tasks will stretch your child’s problem solving and reasoning skills. ‘Live’ problems afford opportunities for your child to share their solutions that are then published on their site.
Transum provides self-marking maths activities, puzzles, problems and investigations to challenge and stretch your child. The resources are organised by topic so you can quickly find what you are looking for.
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