“ The only way to learn maths is to do maths.” Paul Halmos

Lead Mathematician: Helen Smith

Intent

At Christ Church Infant School we recognise that mathematics is essential to everyday life and endeavour for all our children to be inquisitive mathematicians, who confidently challenge themselves and the ideas of others.  We provide our children with an engaging, high quality maths curriculum using a mastery approach that enables children to reason and problem solve effectively.

Implementation

At Christ Church Infant School, mathematics is taught through the mastery approach using the following teaching style;

Make It – children have the opportunity to use concrete objects and manipulatives to help them understand and explain what they are doing.

Draw It – children then build on this concrete approach by using pictorial representations, which can then be used to reason and solve problems.

Write It – with the foundations firmly laid, children can move onto an abstract approach using numbers and key concepts with confidence.

When planning a sequence of lessons, teachers follow the Mathematics Milestones, which outlines the progression of skills from Reception to Year 2.  Before teaching a new mathematical concept, teachers assess the children’s prior knowledge and understanding and use this information to plan lessons that effectively challenge all children. To ensure reasoning and problem solving is stimulating, teachers use a range of resources from White Rose Hubs, NCETM and NRICH. At the end of each unit, the children’s knowledge and understanding is assessed against the Age Related Expectations.

In addition to the maths lesson, every year group has a daily mental maths session which follows the Mastering Number scheme. Here, children develop fluency in number facts and become less reliant of counting. Achieving a good number sense ensures that the children have flexible thinking with numbers that employs reasoning about mathematical structures and relationships, therefore having a lasting impact on future learning for all children.

Impact

Maths is monitored across the school by the Senior Leadership Team throughout the year using a variety of strategies such as book looks, lesson observations and pupil interviews.

Being a Mathematician at CCI means children can:

• Represent numbers in a range of different ways (concrete, pictorial, abstract)
• Fluently recall number facts.
• Use and apply their knowledge to solve real-life problems
• Confidently try and learn from their mistakes, building resilience and taking risks
• Select the appropriate method to solve problems
• Explain their thinking in different ways, using appropriate mathematical vocabulary
• Enjoy their learning and show enthusiasm to participate
• Support others in their understanding
• Think independently and persevere, developing confidence of success