Maths

At Ore Village Primary Academy we develop student’s mathematical thinking through a problem solving approach where skills and knowledge are mastered within a range of contexts. A central focus is developing a child's fluency of core skills and deepening their understanding of concepts through a range of opportunities including, discussion, analysing and constructive debates where they use evidence to support their reasoning. To be able to access this, vocabulary is a key focus in all lessons and throughout the day, allowing the pupil to articulate their ideas in full sentences and build on their understanding. Maths at Ore Village Primary Academy is engaging; sets reachable targets; builds resilience and sets our children up for their futures! 

Language and Communication 

The more language a person has access to, the more they can articulate themselves, share their ideas and clarify their understanding. As such, mathematical communication entails a wide range of cognitive skills: the exchanging of ideas, encompasses both listening and reading and both speaking and writing (symbols). At Ore Village Primary Academy, each maths lesson begins by discussing the key vocabulary they will need to understand to deepen their ideas of the concept. The children are encouraged to use this verbally when talking to each other and the adults around them as it allows them to bounce ideas off of one another and articulate their full understanding of the maths in front of them. This allows them to build their confidence around the new word and receive instant feedback on how they have comprehended it. At the start of each unit, a list of key vocabulary, the definitions and an example , like the one on the right, for each word become a central focus for the class. Ask your children to tell you all about how they use this resource in class to support them.

Mathematical Thinking

There is mathematical thinking required everywhere; even when looking at a seemingly simple number. Exploring, questioning, working systematically, visualising, conjecturing, explaining, generalising, justifying, proving... are all at the heart of mathematical thinking. Representing and building on the links between the concrete, pictorial and abstract ways of representing the same amount is how at Ore Village Primary Academy, we are ensuring our children can access all parts of the curriculum. We unpick the skills and build our lessons in a succession so the children can build on their prior knowledge and analysis the underlying patterns appropriately. It is much more than arithmetic; it is about building and layering skills together to help our children to achieve a higher order of thinking. At Ore Village Primary Academy, there are opportunities in every lesson for all pupils to enhance their mathematical reasoning skills, whether that be through an independent task, verbally or working in a group. The children are often given a task to deepen their reasoning through the use of pre-taught concepts.

Conceptual Understanding

It is essential for our students to learn instant recall of mathematical facts. This includes their multiplication tables and division facts, their number bonds to 10 and 100 and the concept of the place value system. Ensuring children have a quick recall of these facts, supports them to access the mathematics curriculum with confidence and success. During all lessons, children in all year groups in the school, have access to and are encouraged to use a range of concrete and pictorial resources to help make connections before moving onto representing it abstractly. It is a widely misunderstood misconception that hands-on resources such as bricks, cubes and counters are used to only younger pupils. In fact, it is very important for children and adults, of all ages, to see and experiment with a concept before they are able to have a deep understanding of it in its abstract form. At Ore Village Primary Academy, the children in all classes have access to a wide range of manipulatives and are taught how they can be used to scaffold their learning.