Our Statement of Intent for Maths.
Our intent at Northern is that we aim to provide pupils with all the necessary tools to understand Maths. These tools include reasoning, problem solving and the ability to think in abstract ways. Mathematics is intrinsic to all aspects of life; with this in mind, we strive to ensure that our children develop a confident, healthy and enthusiastic attitude towards mathematics that will stay with them and support them in the next stage of their education and beyond. At each stage of learning, children are actively supported to reach their full potential as mathematicians. Maths lessons provide the opportunity for all children to become confident and capable learners. We are committed to building on prior learning and enabling our children to demonstrate a deep, conceptual understanding of each topic. They are encouraged to develop fluency in their recall of key facts and a whole school approach to the teaching of age-appropriate calculation strategies is deployed across the school. This ensures a consistent and progressive approach and prepares our children for the Upper Key Stage 2 curriculum. Reasoning and problem-solving skills are taught to enable children to become independent learners who are prepared to take risks and who are not afraid of failure. The teaching of multiplication facts is a whole school focus, where the applications of these skills are essential for accessing other areas of mathematics. To make the learning relevant, cross-curricular links are made wherever possible and children are encouraged to apply skills from all areas to complete real-life challenges and therefore give learning a sense of purpose. Please see below for a detailed breakdown of coverage and progression through the school.
Mathematics is one of the seven areas of the early years foundation stage and is used to develop a child's confidence and ability with number but also to encourage their understanding of shapes, space and measures. In practice, EYFS maths involves providing children with opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems, and to describe shapes, spaces and measure.
The focus of Maths in Year 1 and Year 2 is to ensure the children develop confidence and mental fluency with whole numbers, counting and place value. This often involves working with numerals, words and the four operations (+ - x ÷). The children should be precise in using and understanding place value and know number bonds to 20.
The children also develop their ability to recognise, describe, draw, compare and sort different shapes. The children will use a range of measures to describe and compare different quantities (such as length, mass, capacity/volume, time and money). Year 2 children are prepared for KS 1 SATs.
The focus of Maths in Years 3 and 4 is to ensure the children become increasingly fluent with whole numbers and the four operations (including number facts and place value). Pupils should also begin to develop efficient written and mental calculations as per school calculations policy with increasingly large whole numbers.
Children should begin to develop their ability to solve a range of problems, including simple fractions and decimal place value. The children should begin to develop mathematical reasoning to help them analyse shapes and their properties and confidently describe their relationships.
By the end of Year 4, children should have memorised their multiplication tables up to and including the 12 times table and be able to show both precision and fluency in their work as well as recognise that division is the inverse of multiplication. Pupils in Year 4 are prepared for the Multiplication Tables Check (MTC).
The focus of Maths in Years 5 and 6 is to ensure that children extend their understanding of the number system and place value further. Pupils should be able to make links between multiplication and division with fractions, decimals, percentages and ratio. Children should develop their skills in order to solve a wider range of problems, including increasingly complex properties of numbers and arithmetic, and problems that demand the use of efficient written and mental methods of calculation. Children are introduced to algebra as a means for solving a variety of problems.
The children’s understanding and knowledge in geometry and measures consolidates and extends the knowledge they have developed in number; children should be able to classify shapes with increasingly complex geometric properties, using the vocabulary they need to describe them with accuracy and confidence. Our Y6 pupils are prepared for KS2 and life in Maths beyond Northern.
Our Maths curriculum is designed so by the end of Key Stage 2, our pupils achieve and make progress above other pupils nationally, evident through: