Mathematics

At Westover Green, we believe that every child can achieve and be successful in mathematics. As teachers, our job is to facilitate just this.

Following the aims of the national curriculum, we want our children to become:

• Fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics
• Reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry
• Problem solvers by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems

Primary National Curriculum for Mathematics

Small Steps Teaching and Learning

Every child can be successful in maths; we believe that this is achieved by breaking down the learning into small, managable steps alongside expert teacher modelling.

The small steps overview of objectives can be found for each year group on the following link: https://whiterosemaths.com/, which is used to inform the planning, teaching and learning within lessons, as well as drawing on other relevant resources to develop fluency, reasoning and problem solving within each objective.

Early Years Foundation Stage currently follow the ‘Numbers and Patterns’ scheme, alongside resources from the NCETM.

Please click below to view the National Curriculum objectives linked to each small step.

Teacher Modelling

This year, we have implemented teacher modelling as a focus of our maths teaching at Westover Green. Adopting an approach from one of our academy link schools, each small step will have: 'teacher turn', where the teacher expertly models a process or way of working and verbalises their thinking; 'our turn', where children work together with scaffolded support from the teacher; 'hinge question', to assess understanding; and independent tasks under 'my turn' and 'deepening', where opportunity is provided to practice the skill, achieve the objective and deepen understanding through a variety of reasoning and problem solving tasks. Please see link below for further details.

Fluency Focus and Daily Routine

The school day at Westover Green begins with 'Fluency Focus' in each classroom. When the children arrive, there are 5 fluency questions on the board ready for children to get stuck in to. This gives the children a daily opportunity to strengthen their arithmetic skills and begin their day of learning.

Our teaching across KS1 and KS2 is split into an hour main maths lesson (includes teaching, independent work and rapid intervention) and a 15 minute number fluency session, both daily. We believe that a strong push on number fluency and basic maths skills will later enable the children to develop their mathematical reasoning and problem solving skills further.

Developing Number Fluency

Developing number fluency skills has been a particular drive after the impact the national lockdowns have had on retention of these facts. We follow the number progression document (see below) and have regular opportunities for awarding achievement in number fluency: Magic Maths in KS1 and 55 Club in KS2.

Flashback Friday

To aid with retention of prior learning, we have launched 'Flashback Friday', where children will weekly (on a Friday) complete 4 tasks themed: last lesson, last week, last block and last year. Please see below for an example.

Quality First Teaching

Covid 19 has continued to present Westover with significant challenge. Consistently high staff absence accompanied by an increasing level of child and parental need(s) has led leaders to ‘re-think’ school improvement priorities. Currently, additional intervention and support outside the classroom are not able to be implemented with required consistency.

Leaders have focused school improvement on Quality First Teaching as this is the core offer without additional intervention and support through other adults. This will also ensure the continued focus on priority groups (lowest 20% readers and disadvantaged learners).

The nature of mathematics as a subject combined with the way we have developed maths over the last year suit our new school model on quality first teaching. Please see the link below to see how maths at Westover fits this model.

Calculation

To compliment the White Rose Hub teaching progression, we also follow the calculation policy across the school set out by White Rose:

Addition and Subtraction Calculation Policy

Multiplication and Division Calculation Policy

Mathematical language and vocabulary

As part of a current whole school focus, vocabulary is at the heart of what we do at Westover. In order to gain knowledge and understanding in the subject, we believe it is paramount that children are exposed to and use range of vocabulary to drive their learning. Mathematics carries a huge bank of vocabulary, which we are putting an increasing emphasis on.

Vocabulary progression across the school

Outdoor learning in maths

A recent development in mathematics is the use of our valued outdoor spaces. The maths lead and outdoor learning lead are both currently working together to come up with new ways of learning outdoors that will enable children to visualise concepts and immerse themselves into experiences to enhance their learning. As stated in the National Curriculum for mathematics, maths is a highly inter-connected discipline. By providing high quality experiences for children, we hope to provide a foundation for understanding the world we live in; the ability to reason mathematically, across all subjects; an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics; and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.