At Greenfield St. Mary’s C.E. (A) Primary School, we recognise that mathematics is all around us, and that understanding mathematics helps children to make sense of the world in which they live. Mathematics is essential to everyday life; critical to science, technology and engineering; and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. We believe in developing resilient, independent, lifelong learners who are motivated and prepared for challenges beyond their primary education and into their future.

Our curriculum is sequenced to build on previously learned facts, so that pupils develop fluency and understanding when working with numbers and calculations. We place a strong focus on ensuring our pupils are able to reason mathematically and explain their thinking, and our mathematics lessons feature problem solving at their heart.

Right from the start of Reception, we model and encourage a curiosity about number and mathematics which we build on as children move through school.

We apply our school SCARF principles to everything we do, and our mathematics curriculum is inclusive for all children, to ensure everyone can enjoy learning and develop to their own full potential.

At Greenfield St. Mary’s we teach the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Framework and the National Curriculum, supported by a clear knowledge and skill progression as set out in our school calculation policy. To ensure whole school consistency and progression, our mathematics planning clearly defines the sequencing and content to be delivered in each year group.

Pupils are taught within the safe environment of their own year groups, where they are free to experiment, take risks and make mistakes, which they learn from. They are taught content from their own year group curriculum only, and they spend time mastering this content so they are able to apply their knowledge to a range of different contexts and problems, using a range of mental and written methods.

Our lessons are structured so that new concepts are taught based around problems – ensuring our curriculum takes pupils beyond their own experiences, but also roots their learning in real-life contexts. Although mathematics is taught as a stand-alone subject, we also use real-life contexts to teach mathematics in a cross-curricular way, where this fits within, and enhances, our year group topics in other subjects.

Lessons include an element of problem solving, teacher-led learning, paired/group practice and independent practice so that pupils are fully supported throughout their learning journey, but also develop the resilience and perseverance required to work with growing confidence and independence.

We believe in the importance of a Concrete, Visual, Abstract (CVA) approach that develops a deep and sustainable understanding of mathematics. Lessons, therefore, make use of a range of quality concrete and visual resources to help move understanding into the abstract, and lessons are planned, delivered and enhanced using resources from high-quality sources – such as those from White Rose, NCETM Teaching for Mastery and N-Rich. To help children develop instant recollection of key number facts, pupils have access to both Numbots and TT Rock Stars, which are online platforms that can be used in school or at home.

Pupils are encouraged to think more deeply about their own learning using strategies such as self and peer assessment, and journaling tasks which develop their ability to articulate their mathematical thinking. The WALT (We are learning to) and WILF (What I am looking for) is explicitly shared in each lesson, and work is marked using ‘Yippee Yellow’ and ‘Green for Growth’ highlighting, in accordance with our marking policy, so that pupils can clearly see what has gone well within their work, and where there are areas to improve/next steps to take.

Differentiation in the mathematics curriculum is achieved with the help of pre and post-learning assessments which are carried out by class teachers, using White Rose assessment materials, so that lesson content can be pitched at the appropriate level for the cohort as a whole, and the individuals within it.

We believe in giving all children the required individual support they require, but also in removing the ‘glass ceiling’ so that all pupils can strive to exceed expectations in any area of the curriculum, without being restricted. Appropriate scaffolding of learning helps pupils to make small, progressive steps towards their goals, and further challenge is always available for pupils who are achieving highly to continue to deepen their understanding.

Teachers use precise questioning in class to test conceptual and procedural knowledge, and assess pupils regularly to identify those requiring intervention, so that all children keep up. However, where a child is working below their year group expectations, individual learning and support will be put in place at an appropriate level.

The New Curriculum for Mathematics sets out progression in written methods of calculation, which highlights the compact written methods for each of the four operations. It also places emphasis on the need to ‘add and subtract numbers mentally’ (Years 2 & 3), mental arithmetic ‘with increasingly large numbers’ (Years 4 & 5) and ‘mental calculations with mixed operations and large numbers’ (Year 6). There is very little guidance, however, on the ‘jottings’ and informal methods that support mental calculation, and which provide the link between answering a calculation entirely mentally (without anything written down) and completing a formal written method with larger numbers.

This policy (especially in the progression of addition and multiplication) provides very clear guidance not only as to the development of formal written methods, but also the jottings, expanded and informal methods of calculation that embed a sense of number and understanding before column methods are taught, here at St Mary’s.

Please click on the link below to access the document which details the Overview of Calculation Approaches; Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division at St Marys.

 

	Multiplication and Division calculation policy July 2022	[pdf 3MB]
	Addition and subtraction calculation policy July 2022	[pdf 3MB]