Harbottle C of E Primary School
Vision for Maths at Harbottle C of E Primary School
Context
We are a very small Church of England school set in rural Northumberland. We have one of the largest catchment areas in England. Children also come to us from out of catchment, meaning that our intake includes children from towns, villages and the outlying farming areas. This can lead to long journeys, often including school transport. A significant portion of our children not only struggle with internet access, they do not have mains electricity and are socially isolated.
Our children come from a wide variety of backgrounds with a wide variety of needs. It is important that our maths curriculum meets all our children’s needs and is bespoke to build on their experiences.
As the KS2 curriculum is taught by two part time teachers our timetable has been designed for the different topics to be taught by different teachers, with regular communication and clear links made between the topics. For example, times table facts are taught throughout the year, so that when they are taught multiplication and division they are able to concentrate on concepts and methods.
Intent
Aims
As a school, our maths curriculum is taught through the maths mastery approach. We firmly believe that the mastery approach provides children with a firm understanding of the key concepts in maths. We want the children to have mastered basic and key skills in maths in order for them to build on these as they progress in their maths education.
Throughout the teaching of maths we use real life examples and problems, sometimes related to their individual situations, for example, how maths is used on a farm, demonstrating how maths is important in every aspect of life, and the various uses and applications in future careers.
We constantly seek to improve teaching and learning of mathematics. Our work with the Great North Maths Hub is helping to embed the mastery approach to learning mathematics.
Mastery in our school
Children use a variety of manipulatives and representations of number to become fluent in a wide range of contexts to both solve problems and explain their thinking.
Children learn different strategies and apply their secure understanding from one to another, comparing the efficiency of each.
Through talk and discussion, we will teach the children to notice patterns and links and ask questions such as how and why, challenging the children to use their understanding and reasoning skills in different contexts.
Use of local resources
We use career day to show how important maths is in so many of the employment opportunities in this area.
Use of ICT and computing
Where appropriate we use IT to enhance their learning, for example, data collection and in the use of online learning tools.
National curriculum programmes of study
At Harbottle CofE First School, we use the National curriculum programme of study as the basis of our maths curriculum, which is delivered using the White Rose maths scheme. We base our teaching on the White Rose resources, but due to the mixed age classes and part time staff, we move the modules to suit our situation.
We are aware that this will be a process of development in order to achieve this fully and to have it securely embedded throughout the maths curriculum.
Implementation
KS2 timetable
| Monday | Number | 50 minutes |
| Tuesday | Number | 50 minutes |
| Wednesday | Number | 50 Minutes |
| Thursday | Times tables | 50 minutes |
| Friday | Shape, space, measure, statistics | 50 minutes |
Maths in Key Stage One and Two
Most lessons begin with a short recap and recall exercise to consolidate previous learning.
Daily maths lessons follow the White Rose maths scheme of work. They include activities designed to build fluency, spot patterns and make connections. We teach children to use concrete resources such as counters to represent numbers, record their work using diagrams and models such as the part-whole model in order to develop their mental agility and understanding of the abstract sense of number. Reasoning style questions form part of most lessons. This provides good opportunities for mathematical thinking, reasoning and explaining. Some of this work may be recorded, but many lessons are practical with lots of opportunities to develop and embed mathematical vocabulary. The children work with maths partners to provide peer support, to enable them to solve problems together through reasoning and explanation.
The maths equipment and resources we use include Numicon, base 10, place value counters, tens frame, cuisenaire rods. We have working walls in every classroom to provide current guidance and support so the children can access their learning and have visual reminders of what to do.
As we have mixed age classes, where possible we teach mathematical concepts as a whole class. This gives an opportunity for children to revisit and extend their understanding. Where necessary, the class is split into year groups for specific learning, giving an opportunity for individual and group exploration.
Curriculum links
We use mathematical skills and understanding every day. We reflect this throughout our curriculum, linking topics where possible. For example, statistics and measurement in science, geography, DT and computing, timelines in history.
We aim to ensure that where possible mathematical concepts that are applied in other subjects are covered within maths lessons earlier. For example, graphs and bar charts are taught in Autumn 1 in KS2 so that they are able to fully apply this when recording and interpreting data in scientific investigations.
National Curriculum Progression
