At Forest Glade, we believe that Mathematics equips pupils with a uniquely powerful set of tools, through developing an ability to calculate, reason and solve problems. It enables children to understand and appreciate relationships and patterns in both number and space in their everyday lives. We aim to develop our children by creating a growth mindset and a positive attitude to maths, allowing them to be confident with numbers and the number system and other mathematical concept and skills, problem solvers, who can reason, and apply their knowledge of Mathematics and give children opportunities to use mathematical vocabulary.

 

EYFS

In EYFS pupils should be developing their concept of the number system through the use of concrete materials and pictorial representations. They should experience practical calculation using a wide variety of equipment, e.g. small world play, role play, counters, cubes, ways of recording calculations using pictures. We use Numicon to help develop a deep understanding of the number system. Reception are currently taking part in the Mastering Number Programme from NCETM, which is a programme designed to ensure children have a thorough understanding of number and the number system. This programme will make up the majority of their taught Maths lessons, with the remainder being teacher designed in order to cover other aspects of the curriculum that it doesn’t cover. In order to ensure that all aspects of the curriculum are covered we have created a long term plan which covers both Reception and Nursery that identifies key concepts to be taught, including those from the Mastering Number programme.

 

KS1 and KS2

From Y1-Y6 we use Power Maths to deliver our maths lessons. This scheme uses the Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract approach to encourage children to think mathematically, building in lots of opportunities for mathematical discussion and encouraging the use of manipulatives. We use manipulatives across KS1 and KS2 to allow children to access learning in all maths lessons. To challenge children and deepen their thinking, staff give them Deeper Learning Tasks to complete. The Ready to Progress Criteria is incorporated into our planning as key pre-requisite lessons from previous year groups and key lessons are identified so that staff are aware of its importance.

 

Other aspects of Maths

Daily Practise

Everyday, children in in Years 1-6 have the opportunity to practise arithmetic and other key areas of the maths curriculum through our 10 in 10 approach. 10 in 10 is a set of questions which the children have ten minutes to answer. The questions cover: recent and current teaching and the Ready to Progress Criteria.

This gives the children the opportunity to practise key mathematical skills throughout the year and encourages regular revisiting of concepts.

Times Tables

At Forest Glade, we use Times Tables Rock Stars as a way to practise Times Tables knowledge to support the children becoming fluent in their mathematical facts and to support them in the MTC at the end of Year 4.