Intent

When teaching mathematics at Milking Bank, we intend to deliver an accessible curriculum which caters for the needs of all children in our school and provide them with the necessary knowledge and skills for them to be successful in the future. We aim for our lessons to be creative and engaging for all pupils. In our lessons, we incorporate sustained levels of challenge through varied and high-quality activities that focus on fluency, reasoning and problem solving. When teaching, we use a wide range of rich resources and provide the children with a range of methods that they can apply to practical and real-life contexts. Pupils are required to explore maths in depth, using mathematical vocabulary to reason and explain their workings. These skills are embedded within Maths lessons and developed consistently over time. We are committed to ensuring that children are able to recognise the importance of Maths in the wider world and that they are also able to transfer their mathematical skills and knowledge confidently to a range of different contexts and situations. We encourage resilience, adaptability and acceptance that struggle is often a necessary step in learning and ensures their ability is being challenged. Our curriculum aims to help children to better make sense of the world around them allowing them to make connections between mathematics and real life.

The national curriculum for mathematics aims to equip all pupils to become fluent in the fundamentals of maths, 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. As a school, we intend for all pupils to reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language. Finally, we strive for all pupils to 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.

Implementation

Every year group at Milking Bank follows the White Rose scheme of learning which is based on the National Curriculum. This allows us to teach the National Curriculum, supported by clear skills and knowledge progression. This ensures that skills and knowledge are built on each year and sequenced appropriately to their age and ability and maximises learning for all of our pupils.  Our approach to the teaching of mathematics develops children’s ability to work both independently and collaboratively. At Milking Bank, we recognise that in order for pupils to progress to deeper and more complex problems, children need to be confident and fluent across each yearly objective. All maths lessons begin with a brief recap of prior knowledge followed by the introduction of new subject specific vocabulary which are then displayed on working walls. Through each maths lesson, existing knowledge is built on and new content is taught through small steps to support children in their learning journey. This progresses into supported and independent practice for children to secure their new skills. Through mathematical talk, children develop the ability to articulate and discuss their thinking. We strive to ensure that children are taught to become competent mathematicians by embedding the skills and processes necessary to enable children to use and apply their Maths learning efficiently and in a variety of mathematical and everyday contexts. Differentiation is achieved by group and individual support and intervention where necessary and ensuring that all children are being challenged at their level. Teachers use questioning as a means of ongoing assessment during a lesson and can adapt teaching depending on the feedback which may highlight misconceptions in learning that can then be addressed. Teachers also use a range of tools to support children in their learning journey; these include working walls, vocabulary displays and practical and visual resources.

Impact

Children at Milking Bank Primary School understand and value the importance of Mathematics; this is evident through pupil voice and monitoring of books and working walls. By the end of KS2 we aim for children to be fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics with a conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately. They should have the skills to solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of situations including in unfamiliar contexts and to real-life situations. Children will be able to reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry and develop and present a justification, argument or proof using mathematical methods and language.

Through high-quality teaching and guidance, we strive to equip our children to achieve age-related expectations by the end of each year. Summative assessments take place at the end of each term which allow teachers to monitor progress and address any gaps in learning. Formative assessment also takes place daily through marking and questioning which enables teachers to adapt planning to meet the needs of all of the children.