Maths
We believe that maths is a subject which promotes curiosity and creativity and encourages us to be courageous in our approach to learning.
Aims
- To foster positive attitudes towards Mathematics by developing pupils’ confidence, independence, persistence and co-operation;
- To enable pupils to be proficient, competent and confident with numbers and measures, and to have an ability to solve number problems in a variety of contexts;
- To develop an awareness of the applications of Maths in their everyday environment and to realise that Maths will frequently help to solve everyday problems;
- To encourage use of the language of Maths to talk about the subject confidently and express their ideas fluently
We recognise the importance of securing maths skills and knowledge, then applying these, and developing reasoning skills to help them within school but also as a key life skill. We want to help them make sense of the numbers, patterns and shapes they see in the world around them, offer them ways of handling data in an increasingly digital world and help secure financial security in the long term. We use Whiterose small steps to ensure a well sequenced curriculum, amended to suit our children’s needs, and use NCTEM resources, including the Mastering Number programmes to compliment and support this.
We strive to make maths relevant to everyday life and as exciting as we can. All children will receive a dedicated maths session each day building on skills that progress throughout the school, but it is also taught in many cross curricular situations too including active maths and outdoor learning. In addition to the daily maths lesson all year groups have maths skills sessions which concentrate on improving fluency and automaticity.
Please find below our long term maths plan, calculation policy and guidance as well as our maths policy:
Maths Calculation Policy Guidance 2024
Parents and Carers
As a parent/carer, you give your child their first experience of maths. Even if you yourself don’t feel confident with maths, you can still make a huge difference to your child’s numeracy confidence and ability.
Top tips
Be positive about maths! Never say things like ‘I can’t do maths’ or ‘I hated maths at school’… your child might start to think like that themselves…
Point out the maths in everyday life. Include your child in activities involving maths such as using money, cooking and travelling.
Praise your child for effort rather than talent – this shows them that by working hard they can always improve.
Websites and apps
All children from Year 1 have a Maths Whizz login – this can be used at home and in school.
All children for Year 2 also have a Times Table Rockstar login – this can be used at home and in school.
Whiterose 1 minute maths is a brilliant free app which we highly recommend to improve fluency and speed.
Websites
See below for more interactive web based games (content does sometimes change so parents are encouraged to check first)
https://mathsframe.co.uk/
Top Marks Education – http://www.topmarks.co.uk/
Fun maths at home, games to play with dice, games to play with playing cards, times tables game and lots more.
https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/maths-site/expert-help–2/andrew-jeffrey
Interactive Sites for Education – http://interactivesites.weebly.com/math.html
Primary Games – http://www.primarygames.com/
Quiz-Busters – http://www.teachers-direct.co.uk/resources/quiz-busters/subjects/Mathematics.aspx
Multiplation.com – http://www.multiplication.com/games/all-games
Maths Web (aimed at older students) – http://mathsweb.net/
Maths language can sometimes seem like a foreign language. Use Oxford Owl’s Jargon Buster to check what new words mean:
http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/maths-site/expert-help–2/jargon-buster
99 Club
99 club has been developed to help further raise standards in Numeracy by encouraging pupils to improve their mental maths and therefore increase the speed and confidence they tackle mental maths problems in Numeracy sessions, across the curriculum and in day to day life.
All pupils have one opportunity per week to complete the next level, this will be timetabled by the teacher. All pupils involved are encouraged to have a go each week. All pupils start on 11 club and work their way up. The 11 club is so called because there are 11 questions to answer, the 22 club has 22 and so on. Badges are awarded when all questions in that “club” are answered correctly in the time given, which is 5 minutes unaided.
Pupils are able to practise at home using practise sheets which are listed in the section below. Please click on the section heading to view and download the sheets. The order of the questions changes so it is not possible for children to simply learn the answers in a particular order!