Mathematics

Maths at Riverside Primary School

Intention:

The intention of the Maths curriculum at Riverside Primary School is that children are taught to become competent mathematicians; we strive to embed the skills and processes necessary to enable children to use and apply their Maths learning in a variety of contexts.

At Riverside, all of our children take part in daily maths lessons. We ensure that every child enjoys a variety of maths tasks throughout the school week. Their learning will cover all aspects of the National Curriculum, including

developing understanding of number and place value,
calculating with all four operations, fractions, decimals and percentages,
geometry (shape, position and direction),
statistics (data).

We aim to develop children’s enjoyment of maths and provide opportunities for children to build a conceptual understanding of maths before applying their knowledge to everyday problems and challenges. Our approach to the teaching of mathematics develops children's ability to work both independently and collaboratively as part of a team. By the end of Key Stage Two, children will leave our school prepared for the next step in their mathematical education.

It is also important that our children are confident in being able to reason and explain how they have solved a problem. From Reception all the way to Year 6, we promote talking in Maths, using mathematical vocabulary and using full sentences. Children are not only able to use technical language but they can give examples of what they mean too. We follow the “Maths Mastery” programme and it is language rich which provides the children with firm foundations in Reception all the way to Year 6.

Implementation:

At Riverside, we recognise that in order for pupils to progress in Maths they need to have lots of opportunities to use and apply their knowledge in everyday 'real life' situations, as well as using maths in the environment and in other subjects, such as Science, Computing or DT. We encourage our children to take on a challenge and apply their Maths to a variety of different problem solving tasks and most importantly we want our children to have fun and enjoy Maths. Each year we hold a themed 'Maths Week', which includes class swap days and visits from outside providers, such as a Maths Magician.

From Year R up to Year 4 we currently follow the Maths Mastery program. This will roll out each year so that eventually we will follow it across the whole school. As part of this our children sing maths songs during transitions, take part in talk tasks and are able to confidently use a range of manipulatives such as bead strings, dienes etc. As well as this in each lesson they learn star words and are expected to use this mathematical vocabulary throughout the lesson, which in turn helps them to reason about their maths. As part of this, we have rolled out Maths meetings across the whole school so that we have some extra maths in the afternoons. This is an extra opportunity to embed our maths knowledge, reason, sing and practice key skills. In Years 5 and 6, they follow the White Rose Maths overviews for the year.

Our children also undertake regular mental arithmetic tests to build upon their ability to solve a range of calculations mentally. They will be regularly tested on their times tables knowledge to ensure that they are able to recall and apply their multiplication skills.

Key Stage One

Teaching throughout Key Stage One ensures that children in our school are confident to manipulate numbers up to 100. The Key Stage One curriculum provides opportunities for children to develop their competency in place value and the four operations. A high focus is placed on concrete, pictorial and mental strategies to equip children with a readiness for more abstract concepts to be introduced in Key Stage Two. Teachers model correct mathematical vocabulary in full sentences and children are expected to repeat and use this vocabulary to articulate their ideas.

Key Stage Two

Teaching throughout Key Stage Two builds on the solid foundations of the previous key stage. Children are introduced to formal calculation methods in Year Three and these are developed and built on each year in line with age related expectations. The frequent opportunities to reason and problem solve in real life contexts, provided by teachers, develops their conceptual understanding and prepares them for the statutory end of key stage assessments.

We aim for all our children to enjoy maths and be successful at an appropriate level for their age and ability. Children of all ages should be practising their basic skills (e.g. number bonds, times tables) as much as possible at home, and using their maths skills in real situations such as finding change when shopping, telling the time and weighing out ingredients when cooking. Playing online maths games is another great way to improve their skills and speed and the children are able to do this by using Maths with Parents and Mathletics in school and at home.

Impact:

Summative assessment takes place at the end of each term and children’s progress and attainment is discussed with senior leaders in pupil progress meetings. Formative assessment takes place on a daily basis and teachers adjust planning accordingly to meet the needs of their class. Attainment and outcomes in Maths have a prominent focus throughout our academy- Rainham Mark Trust. The teaching of Maths is monitored frequently by leaders through lesson observations, book scrutinies and pupil conferences.

For further information about our Mathematics curriculum at Riverside Primary School, please find attached annual curriculum overviews for each year group, alongside our calculation policy.

At the bottom of this page is our school yearly planner so you can see the topics taught within each year group.

Please find the programmes of study for each of the year groups who follow Maths Mastery below;

Early Years