Maths Curriculum

Maths Curriculum at North Thoresby Primary Academy

Intent

Mathematics helps children to make sense of the world around them by developing their ability to calculate, reason and solve problems.  It enables children to understand and appreciate relationships and patterns in number, geometry, measurement and statistics in their everyday lives.  It can be used to analyse and communicate ideas and information effectively, and to tackle a range of practical tasks and real-life problems. Through their growing knowledge and understanding, children learn to appreciate the contribution made by many cultures to the development and application of Mathematics

At North Thoresby Primary Academy we give the children a depth of understanding through our teaching. This means spending greater time going into depth about a subject as opposed to racing through the things that all children should know. As a primary school, it is our duty to ensure that children have an absolutely solid, concrete understanding of subject knowledge and skills as well as being emotionally resilient for secondary school.

Now, we have the confidence to take learning at a steadier and deeper pace, ensuring that no child is left behind, as well as providing deeper and richer experiences for children who are above the national expectation for their age.

Our philosophy is ‘to teach children to be mathematicians by engendering an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject'.

Implementation

From the Foundation stage, all children follow a curriculum underpinned by Ark Mastery Maths which is aligned to the National Curriculum. 

Each child's mathematical learning journey is sequential and new elements build and expand upon previously-taught material. We are forensic about thinking deeply about concepts before moving on to new material using reasoning and problem solving tasks within each area of learning.

Children are supported to become fluent mathematical thinkers through the use of high quality, sequential manipulatives alongside effective modelling from quality-first teaching.  

Frequent formative and periodic summative assessments ensure gaps are identified addressed. Children retrieve previously taught knowledge and skills daily through extra retrieval activities, arithmetic and timetables sessions and Number Sense in EYFS and Key Stage 1. 

Each of the ten units are broken down into learning objectives which link directly to the National Curriculum. These objectives are then broken down into 'small steps'. We also reteach content and work on gaps daily during our 'do now' models which ensure that different concepts are constantly revisited. 

Children complete a baseline assessment each September (PMT) and repeat this in January and July to check for progress over the academic year. Teachers use this information to identify gaps and plan their lessons and interventions to meet the needs of the learners. We also use trackers and flight path modelling throughout the year to ensure children are understanding core concepts thoroughly before moving on.

Children are immersed in counting patterns and timetables from EYFS alongside a rigorous times-table system throughout their school journey. In addition children develop their arithmetic skills regularly through direct instruction and opportunity to practise and apply what they have just been exposed to.

A maths lesson from our curriculum consists of six parts: 

• Do Now

• New Learning

• Talk Task

• Developing Learning

• Independent Task

• Plenary. 

Depending on the activities or area of learning this model may take place over 2, or sometimes even 3, lessons.

Pupils who become fluent rapidly are further challenged through reasoning and sophisticated problems before moving onto new content. Pupils who are not sufficiently fluent with a concept are shown different ways of representing mathematical ideas in order using manipulatives to support their learning and scaffold their thinking before fluency. We employ content specific adaptations to ensure that learning meets the needs of every child including children with SEND or aspirations of becoming  'Greater Depth'. 

Impact

We will foster positive attitudes, fascination and excitement of discovery through understanding the teaching and learning of mathematical concepts. Through the use of Ark Mastery Maths materials, children’s knowledge and understanding of how mathematics is used in real life will be broadened, enabling our pupils to use and understand mathematical language and recognise its importance as a language for communication and thinking.  Our children will develop a ‘can do’ attitude, where they recognise themselves as Mathematicians. Mathematics helps us to understand and change the World, and we want our children to have the skills and understanding to take an important role within this.

Skills Progression by Year

The flowcharts below show how we develop some of the main components of learning across a range of mathematical areas:

Yearly Overview

Working with consultants from Ark Maths, we have developed a bespoke mixed year curriculum to meet the needs of our pupils. Below outlines the broad progression for the year for each year group. This is not a fixed timeline as there are times when units might be delivered slightly ahead or slightly behind the plan as teachers ensure solid understanding before moving on: