Hello!
My name is Miss Howard and I am the Maths Lead and Year 6 teacher at Laycock.
I am extremely passionate about maths and this is a subject I believe is best taught in a cross curricular manner by allowing the children to have real life experiences. From a young age, I have found that maths is not a stand-alone subject, but can be taught cross-circular (e.g. D&T, Science, Computing…etc). In the past I have found maths challenging however, my love for art helped develop my understanding of maths. Without knowing I was able to use my mathematical skills to help me create masterpieces by using symmetry and ratio. Finding links between my love of art helped develop and strengthen my understanding of maths.
Mathematics is a subject that allows children to explore using concrete, pictorial and abstract ideas, which has been our focus at Laycock. I want to ensure all children have the opportunity to explore and develop a love for the subject, as well as equip them with the mathematical language and knowledge they will need in future.
Our Maths Subject Intent
At Laycock Primary school we will teach and embed fluency, problem-solving, reasoning and develop children with a rich vocabulary from EYFS through to KS2. We ensure that we cater and prepare all children for the wider world by allowing children to develop a curiosity for maths. Mathematics is a universal language which is important and accessible to all within our community. We believe and encourage children to experience the beauty and power of the subject as well as promote a positive attitude towards their learning. This is done by embedding fluency, developing their reasoning skills and becoming problem solvers through the CPA approach (concrete, pictorial and abstract). This gives children the independence to develop an ability to explore, to solve problems, to reason, to think logically and be able to work accurately and systematically. We will develop and nurture the skills within each child so that they are able to make rich connections in maths as well as other curriculum subjects.
All children will be fluent in the fundamentals in mathematics by the time they leave our school. We ensure this is done by children actively participating in daily Maths Meetings, which focuses on the basic skills through talk. Maths Meeting is a mastery approach which develops children’s conceptual understanding and allows them to recall and apply knowledge accurately. The daily practice of Maths Meeting improves a child’s number sense and gives them an opportunity to make connections at a deeper level as well as develops a child’s vocabulary, allowing them to confidently explain their thinking and answers.
As a school, we follow White Rose Maths, a scheme of learning, which follows the National Curriculum and provides rich material with a mastery approach. This gives children the opportunity to be independent, confident, resilient mathematical thinkers. We intend for all children at Laycock to be problems solvers and reason mathematically. This is can be achieved by applying what they know and breaking down the problem in order to solve it. We encourage and challenge our children to work creatively, enquire, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification, or proof using mathematical language.
Our Maths subject implementation
At Laycock, we are able to implement our intent through high quality teaching, which is delivered and aimed to challenge all children. We have adopted a teaching for Mastery approach, this is designed to develop and deepen children’s knowledge and understanding of mathematical concepts from EYFS to KS2.
To ensure full topic coverage, we use White Rose Maths schemes of learning, which is in-line with the National curriculum aims. White Rose Maths teaches pupils to become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, to be able to reason and to solve problems. This is used across the school, as it supports and follows The 5 Big ideas (Fluency, Variation, Mathematical Thinking, Representation and Structure) of Mastery mathematics. We believe that this creates continuity and progression in the teaching of maths.
Here is an outline of what maths looks like, within a Laycock classroom setting:
- Maths Meetings (10-15mins) – this is separate from the maths lesson and focuses on number, time, measure, shape, data handling and https://www.williamtyndale-islington.co.uk/learning/music Maths Meetings allows children to have more exposure to mathematical language and recaps on a variety of concepts, securing in their long-term memory. We are able to establish a routine, encourage mathematicalthinking, build classroom culture, and make connections with mathematics in everyday life.
- During whole class teaching, teachers’ are able to model activities using variation; this is to show the relationship and different variables we can use to achieve the same outcome.
- Basic skills are revised and reviewed at the beginning of every lesson. By practicing their factual fluency, helps a child to feel more confident with their learning.
- Children are taught in a variety of ways. E.g. Differentiated work, differentiated questioning, mixed ability pairs/groups, adult support…etc. We feel all children should be supported and challenged in their learning.
- All classrooms have a range of manipulatives including Numicom, Base10, place value counters and grids. They are encouraged to use manipulatives, in order to support their learning.
- Concrete manipulatives and pictorial representations are used to guide/support children when making connections, as they move towards the abstract understanding.
- Challenges are set for all learners (for each lesson), they focus on problem solving and reasoning. Children are required to articulate their mathematical thinking, and are able to use CPA methods to do so.
- Interventions and catch-up programmes are available and aimed to recap basis skills, address misconceptions and challenge the children’s mathematical thinking further.
- Homework is set weekly via Mathletics and TTRS. Our homework programmes aim to develop and review children’s learning and improve each child’s rapid recall of there times tables.
- Where possible, links are made with other subjects across the curriculum.
Children’s progress is monitored through our teaching, against the expected attainment for their age. We are able to make formative assessments daily, as this allows the teachers to gauge each child’s understanding of a mathematical strand. This has a high impact on the daily teaching, as it informs us on how we plan and teach the children. Summative Assessments are carried out at the beginning and end of each term, as we able to check and validate the formative assessments and check the progress of each child. This also informs us on areas that may need to be reviewed or revisited.
We believe at Laycock, that we are able implement a variety of strategies, to ensure each child has access to high quality teaching and is able to make progress in their learning.
Our Maths Scheme of work
We follow a Maths scheme for teaching called White Rose Maths. The company is influenced, inspired and informed by the work of leading maths researchers and practitioners across the world, White Rose Maths brings together a team of highly experienced and passionate maths teaching experts to train, guide, help and support all those who want to make change happen in their schools. And we, at Laycock, are loving it!
Their mantra is simple:
You can find more here: https://whiterosemaths.com/
Please see the progression plans throughout the curriculum for children learning Maths at Laycock here:
National Curriculum Progression in Primary Maths
Reception-Scheme-Guidance-for-teachers-Autumn-2020
Useful Maths Websites
A Maths Dictionary For Kids Maths dictionary which is child friendly.
Primary Resources
NRICH Challenging maths puzzles/games for more able children.
Puzzle Maker A useful website to use to create puzzles using words of your choice.
Woodlands Junior Great maths games for children.
Maths Nets Interactive games to use on the Smart board.
Numeracy World Worksheets that can be printed to use in class.
Primary Worksheets Some useful maths games (evaluation copy only).
Coxhoe Key Stage 1 and 2 games for the interactive whiteboard.
Early Years, KS 1 and KS2 Literacy and Numeracy Activities
Primary Games Maths games for KS1/KS2.
Cool Math (coolmaths – American site for children)
Fun Brain (activities for children)
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc-home/vtc-ks2-home/vtc-ks2-maths(2).htm (teacher resources)
Thinks Maths and Art ‘fun’
Incompetech A great site where you can print off graph paper to your own specifications.
The Math Worksheet Site Creates worksheets for different abilities.
Illuminations Use counting strategies to make as many outfits for Bobbie Bear as you can, using different coloured shirts and pants. (Great for Foundation and KS1).
Illuminations Guide a turtle to a pond using coloured commands.