Maths

Mathematics is the language with which God has written the universe.

^{Galileo Galilei}

Intent

At Millbrook we fundamentally believe that 'everyone can do Maths' and aspire for all children to become confident using number and develop a love and culture for Maths. We approach our curriculum in a way that challenges children, viewing mistakes as part of the learning process, encouraging children to reflect and improve. Our curriculum provides pupils with a deep understanding of the subject through a concrete, pictorial and abstract approach to help them solve a variety of problems. We aim for all children to leave Millbrook confident with using Maths in their everyday lives. We believe that everyone can achieve in Maths and that all pupils should experience its awe, wonder and relevance.

Implementation

Mathematics is taught through three key areas of mastery, as set by the National Curriculum so 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 problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.

We teach maths using the ‘I do, we do, you do’ process allowing the children to Explore, Experience and Create within their maths learning.

We believe that our regular times table sessions promote confidence in mathematical fluency along with times table knowledge.

We place great emphasis on reasoning and teaching and using vocabulary to equip children with the tools needed to explain their mathematical thinking.

To ensure continuity and progression in the teaching of mathematics, we use the White Rose Maths scheme of work which covers the National Curriculum objectives and breaks the learning into small steps allowing for a slower, deeper approach to the lesson sequences. This ‘mastery’ approach to concepts allows pupils to become confident and resilient mathematicians.

Our approach ensures that children, through the use of manipulatives and pictorial representations, gain the right level of fluency before moving through a wide variety of reasoning and problem-solving activities that allow them to further broaden and deepen their mathematical knowledge and demonstrate their understanding of abstract concepts. Our use of ‘flashbacks’ ensures that children’s knowledge is embedded through revisiting concepts regularly and via opportunities to apply knowledge in a variety of ways.

While the White Rose is the 'spine' that runs through the Millbrook Maths curriculum, teachers enrich the content with resources from other high-quality Maths websites, such as NCETM, to provide pupils with enriched, well-rounded and high-quality Maths lessons.

At Millbrook, we encourage a culture and love of Maths through our enrichment opportunities, such as the Key Stage 2 Maths challenges, in which children get the opportunity to compete against other schools!

The learning for each year group is split into a number of learning blocks which cover all the appropriate mathematics objectives. Each concept within a block is then split into a series of small steps in order to consolidate the pupils’ conceptual understanding. The schemes ensure an integrated approach to the National Curriculum of mathematics aims of fluency, reasoning and problem solving.

Progression in Maths

The overviews below exemplify how maths progresses through topics in each year group over the course of a year.

Maths in the Early Years and KS1

Supporting pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 to develop good number sense

We support pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 to develop good number sense through the 'Mastering number' approach (NCETM - Maths HUB). Our aim is to secure firm foundations in the development of good number sense for all children from Reception through to Year 1 and Year 2 and that all children leave Key Stage 1 with fluency in calculation and a confidence and flexibility with number. Attention is given to the key knowledge and understanding needed in Reception classes and progression through Key Stage 1 to support success in the future.

Spaces available on Mastering Number Programme from September 2022 | NCETM