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Mathematics

Intent

At Fellside Community Primary School, we believe that mathematical literacy is a key life skill and encourage pupils to enjoy mathematics and become enthusiastic mathematicians by developing their skills, knowledge and understanding through practical experiences which have relevance and purpose in everyday situations.  It is important that children develop the skills of numeracy to become lifelong learners.  They should be able to apply these skills in different situations across the curriculum and in daily living outside school.

Aims

Our aims for the delivery of maths at Fellside are that pupils

  • become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, having the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately;
  • reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, making links between relationships;
  • develop justifications using mathematical language;
  • can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of problems with increasing sophistication.
     

At Fellside we want to ensure that our children develop a deep understanding, confidence and competence in maths so that they are secondary ready, and beginning to see the value of working maths skills in their daily lives.

Implementation

Fellside’s programme of study for mathematics is set out year-by-year for key stages 1 and 2 as per The National Curriculum and Gateshead (LA) Long Term Plan for Mathematics. Lessons take place daily.At Fellside, we follow The Gateshead Core Curriculum for our maths teaching.  This is a Spiral Curriculum following the National Curriculum for Key Stages 1 and 2.  Each area of maths is broken down into topics, which are then revisited throughout the year.  We use a range of resources to deliver and supplement the curriculum to match the needs of the children and lessons occur daily.

The mathematics curriculum is split into 5 key areas of study

  • Number (including place value, sequencing, calculation)
  • Measurement
  • Geometry
  • Statistics
  • Algebra (Year 6 only)


At Fellside Community Primary School we follow a mastery approach to teaching and learning in mathematics, with the aim that all children acquire a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of the subject, rather than accelerating through concepts. Children are not extended with new learning before they are ready. We ensure that they deepen their conceptual understanding by tackling challenging and varied problems. For each of the four rules of number, different strategies are laid out, together with examples of what concrete materials can be used and how, along with suggested pictorial representations. The principle of the concrete-pictorial-abstract (CPA) approach [Make it, Draw it, Write it] helps children to have a true understanding of a mathematical concept.

Find out more about maths mastery: https://www.ncetm.org.uk/teaching-for-mastery/mastery-explained/

Impact

At Fellside, we believe that a mathematical concept or skill has been mastered when a child can show it in multiple ways, using previously taught mathematical language to explain their ideas.  Further, they can independently apply the concept to new problems in unfamiliar situations. Children demonstrate quick recall of facts and procedures, including recollection of times tables as well as the flexibility and fluidity to move between different contexts and representations of mathematics. Children show a high level of pride in the presentation and understanding of their learning as evidenced in their books.  The range of activities within these demonstrate a good coverage of fluency, reasoning and problem solving.  School standards in maths are high and we moderate learning both internally and externally to ensure this remains so and that children continue to achieve well.

Downloads:

Maths Yearly Curricula by Year Group