Maths at Blenheim

At Blenheim we want pupils to love maths; they will see the value, beauty and magic in the subject. We believe that all pupils can be mathematicians. A positive mathematical mindset is key to success and we believe that mistakes should be celebrated and that concepts must be appropriately challenging for pupils. We believe in a mastery approach to maths education, where ‘how’ a concept works is vital. We want pupils to be able to reason and articulate their thinking so that they begin to understand the role that maths plays in the wider world, and can apply their problem-solving skills to real-life situations.

At Blenheim, we teach maths for mastery, following the Maths No Problem scheme of work. This approach is based on that used in Singapore, where the students do incredibly well in maths! This involves a lot of exploration of concepts using a wide array of resources, and embedding our understanding through discussion and independent practice in textbooks.

This video explains how we promote deeper thinking in maths which leads to mastery. This is quite different from how we may have learned maths ourselves at school!

Key elements of how we teach maths

EVERYONE LEARNS TOGETHER AND SUCCEEDS TOGETHER

In a traditional primary school maths lesson, children are put in different groups and learn different things based on what the teacher thinks their ability is.

This means that from an early age children are classed as those who can and can’t “do maths”. Teaching maths for mastery is different because it offers all pupils access to the full maths curriculum. Children always work in mixed attainment pairs, where children can support and challenge each other.

THERE IS TIME TO THINK DEEPLY ABOUT MATHS

Rather than learning one procedure for ‘doing maths’ (for example column addition), we focus on children really understanding their learning.

We emphasise solving problems in many different ways, and challenge our children to see the connections between methods. Children spend time describing how they solved one problem in different ways in their maths journal. This builds self-confidence and resilience in pupils.

CONCRETE AND PICTORIAL SUPPORT

Many people find that they understand maths better if they get to use objects, or they can see pictures which help them understand what the symbols in maths mean.

At Blenheim, children use cubes, counters, number discs and objects to help them understand what the maths they are using really means. They make links to pictures of problems and ideas, and explain what the links are. They understand mathematical concepts using everyday language (e.g ‘equals’ means ‘the same as'), which helps them understand what the numbers and symbols mean.

TOPICS LAST LONGER

Rather than spending a week or two on a topic (for instance ‘addition’), our children study the topic in greater depth and for longer.

This slower pace ensures that students are secure in their understanding as it is built up in small steps starting with revising what they learned the previous year.

The Maths No Problem Scheme of Work