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Creating the Maths Buzz!

 

Maths at Pensans Community Primary School 2023-2024

 

 Intent          

Mathematics is a pivotal part of the EYFS and Primary Curriculum here at Pensans. We are passionate about creating a Maths Buzz around the school to breakdown any barriers to learning with our new streamlined and purposeful approach. At Pensans, we know the significance of how a child’s formative years shapes their Maths Mindset. Allowing children to delight in declarative learning, freeing up their working memory to solve a problem, especially when it leads them to an unexpected discovery or making new connections…creates the Maths spark! As their confidencegrows, they look for patterns, use logical reasoning, suggest solutions and try out different approaches to problems which strengthens their creative thinking and offers children a powerful way of communicating... the Maths Buzz! They will learn to exploreand explain their ideas using symbols, diagrams and spoken and written language. Mathematics is a fundamental part of human thought and logic, and integral to attempts at understanding the world and us. In addition, mathematical knowledge plays a crucial role in understanding the contents of other school subjects such as science, computing, music and art and that is our intention at Pensans.

 

We want our children to acquire Maths knowledge progressively. Knowledge helps children to sharpen their thinking skills and makeslearning easier. Knowledge is not only cumulative, it grows exponentially. Learners with a rich base of factual knowledge find it easier to learn more. We would like to see our children  develop three types of mathematical knowledge.

  •        Declarative knowledge- ‘I know that…’- having knowledge of facts, formulae, concepts, principles and rules.
  •        Procedural knowledge- ‘I know how…’- recall as a sequence of steps including methods, algorithms and procedures.
  •        Conditional knowledge- ‘I know when…’- the ability to reason and solve problems and use combinations of declarative and procedural knowledge which can be transformed into strategies when children learn to match the problem types they can be used for.

Being able to solve mathematical calculations and develop the ability to problem solve are fundamental skills for later life. At Pensans we want our children to see the mathematics that surrounds them every day and develop a positive attitude believing theyare all ‘mathematicians’. From telling the time and calculating costs, to checking bus timetables or measuring around the home, these skills will be learnt and developed during a child’s time at Pensans. We want to ignite curiosity about the Maths in the world around them and through the curriculum provide opportunities to problem solve, make links with their previous learning and reason mathematically in a range of contexts. All our children, through the encouragement of appositive  Growth Mind-set will be encouraged by the belief that by working hard at maths they can succeed. In live with our school vision and ethos of Pensans Cares. (C)ommunity (A)spirational (R)elationaships (E)xperiences (S)uccess

 

Implementation                                                                                                                    

Through creating and implementing a new streamlined and purposeful plan, progressively developing the knowledge and skills needed to meet and exceed the National Curriculum expectations, at Pensans we aspire for our children acquire a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of the subject. Mastery Maths with its three dimensions of language and communication, conceptual understanding, and mathematicalthinking – are the three key ingredients we aim to provide our children with enabling them to achieve confidence and competence in mathematics.

 

  •  Conceptual understanding – Mathematics tasks are about constructing meaning and making sense of relationships.Children deepen their understanding by representing concepts using objects, pictures, symbols and words (concrete, pictorial and abstract-CPA)
  •  Mathematical thinking – Children develop mathematical ‘habits of mind’ – to be systematic, generalise and seek outpatterns. They think mathematically and are given tasks that require them to specialise and generalise, to work systematically, to generate their own examples, to classify and to make conjectures.
  •  Communication and language – Mathematical language strengthens conceptual understanding by enabling pupils to explain and reason. The more learners use mathematical words the more they feel themselves to be mathematicians. Talk isan essential element of every lesson and time is dedicated to developing confidence with specific vocabulary as well as verbal reasoning.
 To develop a secure and deep understanding of mathematical concepts and procedures, The Concrete Pictorial Abstract (CPA) approach is used which is a system of learning that uses physical and visual aids to build a child’s understanding of abstract topics. Children are introduced to a new mathematical concept through the use of concrete resources (e.g. fruit, counters, objects). When they are comfortable solving problems with physical aids, they are given problems with pictures and asked to represent their understanding of number by drawing their own pictoral representations (e.g. dienes). Then they are asked to solve problems where they only have the abstract i.e. numbers or other symbols, they then record their understanding/answers in the abstract form. Building these steps across a lesson/series of lessons helps our children better understand the relationship between numbers and the real world, and therefore helps secure their understanding of the mathematical concept they are learning. Our school 'Written Methods Calculation Policy supports the progression of the CPA process and enables our children to learn and use methods across all operations which will help them solve calculations/problems in a progressive way.

Before starting the National Curriculum our Reception children are introduced to numbers and counting, and will start to use basic mathematical language. An interest in maths and problem solving will be encouraged through maths games and fun activities. Maths can be taught anywhere, and we encourage our children to count as they build, create, investigate in the sand etc spotting patterns and counting lots of different objects and things. We talk about time, the passing of time and the time different things happen. All this exposure to number and counting alongside developing fine motor skills to learn to recognise and form the corresponding numerals ensures our children become exciting by maths ready for Year 1.

 Children’s mathematical vocabulary will grow and develop in a way that ensures progression and consistency. Pupil progress will continually monitor to ensure pupil understanding and, when any misconceptions will be highlighted highlighted, to ensure tricky concepts are revisited and consolidated. Live marking and a clear Maths Marking Policy has been implemented to provide childrenwith the chance to develop and demonstrate their increasing levels of skill and to support the ongoing teacher, pupil, parentassessment dialogue. In addition, teacher development is proactively planned to ensure that best practice is shared and is to thebenefit of pupils and staff alike.

 We want children to think and behave like mathematicians and not just ‘do’ maths. Therefore, learning will be cumulative, enabling pupils to develop a deep understanding of concepts. Learning will be sequenced in small steps to reduce cognitive load and tofacilitate effective explicit instruction through quality first teaching so that all pupils can make progress within and between yeargroups ensuring they meet or exceed the National Curriculum expectations for mathematics. Children who grasp concepts rapidly should be challenged through being offered rich and sophisticated problems before any acceleration through new content.

 Impact                                                                                                                                         

Through consistent, repetitive and progressive Maths teaching and learning, with opportunities to practice starting from a very young age, mathematics at Pensans aims to stimulate curiosity, foster creativity and equip children with the skills they need as they grow into older children, young people andadults. By providing our youngest children with Maths concepts which are built on through KS1 and 2, our children will developgenuine enjoyment and pleasure in exploring and learning in mathematics and the ability to learn to make to make coherent sense of the numbers, patterns and shapes they see in the world around them.

 We want to ensure our children are lifelong mathematical thinkers and learners as they grown into young people and adults. Maths is used far more often on a daily basis by everyone than we often realise. When cooking you may need to double or halve a recipe or add 2/3rds of the flour at the start and then the rest later. You mostly do this “by eye” but it is sound mathematical understandingwhich enables this skill. When out shopping you will use Maths to work out the best bargains on offer. We may work out that the cost of three individual tins of beans is higher than the cost of a pack of four tins, perhaps. So, our Maths ability has saved us money.When we need to get somewhere we might be working out how far it is and then estimating the time it will take to get there and using our time-telling skills to figure out what time to leave the house to get there on time. We might even work in a diversion to thepetrol station for an extra challenge. If you are doing some DIY around the house, you may be measuring walls, working out how many rolls of wallpaper to buy (saving more money when it is an expensive roll) and working out the total cost as you go. Maths is important when you want to take out a mortgage, open a savings account, or get a credit card. How much will you pay back? Is a loan or a credit card best for your needs? How much will it cost a month and can I afford it?

 Maths isn’t just important for adults in day-to-day life. Most forms of employment, require confidence and competence in a range of basic mathematical skills and knowledge – such as measurement, manipulating shapes, organizing space, handling money, recording and interpreting numerical and graphica l data, and using information and communications technology (ICT). There are jobs which use Maths in more traditional and obvious ways – architecture, science, computer programming, accountancy and so on. But also, there are careers which rely on Maths which may not be so obvious – sportsmen and women who calculate distance andspeed, as well as angles and trajectory; and carpenters and builders for whom a miscalculation could cost them a job or their business.

 At Pensans, we are aspirational in wanting to prepare our children for the next phases in their life ensuring that we teach them the skills and arm them with the knowledge to succeed on their journey to adulthood well equipped to face practical problems and successfully compete for the best jobs as adults.

  PENSANS CARES