MILE OAK PRIMARY SCHOOL POLICY FOR Mathematics

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1 MILE OAK PRIMARY SCHOOL POLICY FOR Mathematics June, 2014 Approved by the Governing Body July, 2014 Attached are the programmes of study for Key Stages 1 and 2, including the purpose of study and the aims. The national curriculum provides an outline of core knowledge around which Mile Oak School develops exciting and stimulating themes and lessons to promote the development of pupils knowledge, understanding and skills as part of the wider school Curriculum. Inclusion: Teachers must set high expectations for every pupil, including those pupils who are able, those who are less able and those who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Literacy and Numeracy: Teachers should use every relevant subject to develop pupils literacy and numeracy skills.

2 Mile Oak Primary School Policy for Mathematics Update June 2014 Tara Liddle As with all policies at Mile Oak Primary School, this policy adheres to equalities legislation and the key belief that Every Child Matters.

3 Mathematics is a creative and highly inter-connected discipline that has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history s most intriguing problems. It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary in most forms of employment. A high-quality mathematics education therefore provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject. (The New National Curriculum) Children are given the opportunity to: Develop their thinking and problem solving skills and to participate in all mathematical activities regardless of age, ethnic origin, culture, ability or physical impairment. The Aims of the whole school are to: Promote awareness of the uses of mathematics in the world beyond the classroom particularly through play, practical work, problem solving situations and creativity. Support children in becoming fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils have conceptual understanding and are able to recall and apply their knowledge rapidly and accurately to problems (taken from the New Curriculum) Encourage children to reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language (taken from the New Curriculum) Solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions. (taken from the New Curriculum) Develop the ability to think logically and clearly and to work systematically. Ensure all children will become numerate and tackle mathematical problems with confidence and enjoyment. Provide opportunities during the teaching sequence for pupils to use and apply their mathematic knowledge. Develop the skills which are needed to meet the demands of adult life. Develop positive attitudes to mathematics, recognising that mathematics can be both useful and enjoyable. Be able to use and apply the skills in other curricular areas. Enable children to gain knowledge and understanding through a wide range of mathematical activities. Enable children to develop mental strategies and rapid recall of facts. Enable children to reach their full potential Involve parents by giving regular differentiated homework and/or mathematical games and inviting them into school to experience the teaching of mathematics, as well as keeping them updated with any changes. Involve parents in Foundation Stage by running an annual family numeracy event, giving ideas to support numeracy at home. Teaching and Learning takes place by means of: Structuring lessons to maintain good pace and a variety of learning experiences. Mathematics lessons normally take place each morning. Each lesson lasts between 45 and 60 minutes and consists of approximately three pacey oral and mental starters revise, recap, revisit, the main teaching activity, opportunities to investigate/experience, opportunities for self or peer assessment and the plenary.

4 The expectation is that the majority of pupils will move through the programmes of study at broadly the same pace. Pupils who grasp concepts rapidly should be challenged through being offered rich and sophisticated problems that broaden their knowledge before any acceleration through new content. In order to successfully close the gap between different abilities, Teacher s should try to avoid using programmes of study from other year groups. However, the New Curriculum states that schools have some flexibility to introduce content earlier or later than set out in the programme of study. Teachers should consider the attention span of children in the year group during their main input. Children should be encouraged to have lots discussions and whiteboard work rather than sitting and listening for too long. Children will be taught as a whole class with the teacher using a range of questions to develop mathematical thinking but children should be able to begin their tasks as and when they feel ready. Not all groups of children will necessarily start the activities at the same time. Teaching strategies will be varied and will encourage a high level of interaction. Teachers place strong emphasis on the development of mental calculation skills. Children are asked to explain their methods using key mathematical vocabulary and to check for reasonableness. Key words should be displayed on learning journey walls and teachers ensure that they model the correct use of mathematical words. Teachers value pupils oral contributions and create an ethos in which all children feel they can contribute. Activities are planned to encourage the full and active participation of all pupils and teachers differentiate tasks during the main part of the lesson in order to meet the needs of all abilities. Children are encouraged to be independent learners through selecting the appropriate difficulty for themselves. Lots of challenges and extensions should be available to broaden children s understanding, as opposed to more of the same. Children must be assisted in making their thinking clear to themselves as well as others and teachers should ensure that pupils build secure foundations by using discussion to probe and remedy their misconceptions. The quality and variety of language that pupils hear and speak are key factors in developing their mathematical vocabulary and presenting a mathematical justification, argument or proof. (New Curriculum) Numeracy Planning is: Based on the New National Curriculum. Progressive throughout the school. Teachers teaching the same year group plan and evaluate at the end of each lesson, as well as weekly meetings with their planning team. Teachers select a Maths Driver from their year groups Key Objectives document. Two learning objectives are selected from the main driver, followed by approximately one objective from each of the other drivers. For example, if Place Value is the key driver, two objectives will be selected from Number, place value and & algebra, followed by one linking objective from Calculation, Fractions, decimals and percentages, Measures and Statistics or Geometry. Each unit should have approximately 6 learning objectives which may be broken down into a 2 or 3 week block. Once drivers are selected this should be recorded on the Driver Tracking Sheet to ensure coverage of all the objectives. Objectives that have been covered should be indicated and a note should be made as to whether children are secure in these skills. Success criteria should be based on language from Blooms Taxonomy and focus on broadening the children s understanding. Teachers make amendments to plans according to their assessments of pupil progress.

5 Planning clearly shows which group the teacher will be focusing on each day and which group will be supported by the teacher/teaching assistant. Teachers should plan to mark one group s Numeracy books in depth each day and set new challenges and improvement time, in accordance with the assessment policy. Foundation Stage Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy: The Early Learning Goals have been adopted for children at the foundation stage. At this stage pupils experience some mathematics on a daily basis. This early introduction to mathematics will generally be undertaken orally and often in the context of a class theme. Wherever possible, opportunities for mathematics are exploited such as when taking the register. Focuses on counting and sequencing skills. Developing mathematical language. Helps develop the children s knowledge and understanding of the number system. Special Needs Teaching will: Take account of IEP s Be addressed through differentiated tasks through outcomes and/or expectations. All pupils take part in the daily numeracy lesson. Teachers plan lessons so that all pupils can be included and can make progress in the lesson. Teacher s should try to avoid taking objectives from other year groups but give more time to practice and secure basic skills for those children who need it, before broadening these skills. In oral work teachers plan a range of differentiated questions, with some targeted at specific pupils. Teachers also ask open questions that allow all children to take part. Teachers use a wide range of visual resources to illuminate meaning. Wave 2 and 3 support is provided by skilled teaching assistants. Resources are available on a Maths table to support the children and relevant vocabulary for that unit should be displayed on the learning journey wall. Children should be encouraged to be independent learners by selecting their own equipment and resources. During whole class teaching, discreet help is given to particular children by teaching assistants where available. During activities, children are supported by teaching assistants where available. The class teacher should work with each group every week and the teaching assistant should be moved around to different groups. Overcoming barriers, springboard and securing levels resources are used to deliver intervention programmes. The contribution of Numeracy to other curriculum areas: The skills learned in Numeracy can be recognised as having cross-curricular merit and links will be made where appropriate: Investigation Data Handling Mathematical representation Problem Solving Links can be made to topics to make the learning more meaningful. Strong links can be made to Science. ICT Teachers incorporate the use of ICT in their mathematics lessons when appropriate.

6 Computers are used during whole class work to provide a starting point as well as to demonstrate concepts and encourage problem solving. Computers are used by groups of children working independently within the classroom on programs relating to the mathematical objectives being addressed that day. Classes regularly have mathematics lessons on the laptops where particular programs are used to consolidate number skills, explore patterns in data, etc Calculators should not be introduced until near the end of key stage 2, when their mental arithmetic and written methods are secure, and only in order to support pupils conceptual understanding and exploration of more complex number problems. Music Children learn how to count and about numbers through songs in Foundation Stage and KS1. In KS2 teachers use songs to introduce or reinforce a concept. (Maths raps). Children benefit from the multi-sensory experience. Assessment and Recording will: Conform to the schools own policies in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. Conform to national testing at the end of each Key Stage. In line with the aims of the New curriculum, we promote high expectations so that all children can reach their potential and are well prepared for secondary school. Children will be assessed according to new performance descriptors which will assess whether children are meeting the age expectations for their year group, are below or exceeding. See assessment policy document. Resources: Resources are stored both centrally and in classrooms. A residual budget will be available to resource real life mathematics activities. Monitoring and Review: The Numeracy Co-ordinator will monitor the subject throughout the school. The Co-ordinator will keep well-informed of the subject and introduce changes and new resources if and when necessary. The Co-ordinator will liaise with the Numeracy Governor and the Curriculum sub-committee at the governing body s request. The Co-ordinator will meet with co-ordinators in other schools during cluster meetings. Monitoring and evaluation will be carried out by the Headteacher Mathematics Coordinator Numeracy governor Member of the LEA Inspection/Advisory team (on request) This will entail: scrutiny of medium and short-term planning and feedback. reviewing children s work. analysis of test data and papers monitoring of assessment and record-keeping, marking staff meetings will be devoted to discussion of the teaching and learning of mathematics regularly the mathematics Co-ordinator will make an annual report to the governors

7 Environment The school aims to provide a mathematically stimulating environment: Through displays that promote mathematical thinking and discussion Through displays which show the current learning journey and appropriate vocabulary and information to support the children. Each class will clearly display their learning journey using the rainbow colours taken from the Key Objectives document. Each class will have a maths table/area with resources appropriate for the current learning journey. Evidence of each objective will be photocopied from children s books and displayed on the learning journey wall as a reference to the learning so far. Displays will be changed every couple of weeks according to when a new learning journey begins. In every classroom, resources such as number lines, hundred square, place value charts and multiplication squares are displayed as appropriate and used as resources for whole class or individual work, for children to become confident in their use and understanding of the number system.