Maths
.At Westfield, our intention is to provide children with opportunities to develop their mathematical thinking to achieve confidence and competence in maths. Our curriculum is designed so that all children will feel successful. We want all our children to develop a love of maths by guiding them to explore ideas, make observations and find connections. We intend to provide opportunities to acquire a mastery understanding of maths and apply this to everyday problems and challenges.
We place a large emphasis on talk in maths, and constantly encourage children to explain their reasoning using mathematical vocabulary. Our approach ensures the children are able to work both independently and collaboratively, and are willing to take risks. By the end of Key Stage 2, we intend to develop learners with inquisitive minds who have secure mathematical foundations.
At Westfield, we teach maths for an hour every day and as a cross-curricular subject where appropriate. We follow the teaching sequence outlined by White Rose and this ensures that a coherent, consistent approach is implemented throughout the school. The curriculum is broken down into small manageable steps in order to ensure that each lesson has a clear focus and helps children understand concepts by following a carefully planned sequence of lessons. Within each lesson, children have the opportunity to acquire, practice, apply and deepen their knowledge and skills as appropriate.
We teach curriculum content in blocks to allow children to explore skills and knowledge in depth and gain a secure understanding of particular subject matter. When introduced to a new concept, children have the opportunity to develop their understanding in a variety of ways. Concrete objects and manipulatives are used to support pupil’s understanding. Alongside these, children use pictorial representations to help support their understanding of abstract concepts.
Regular and ongoing formative assessment helps shape what is taught in class and aids teachers in clearing up any misunderstandings on a regular basis. Summative assessments are used to understand the progress that the class has made and these are standardised to ensure that assessment is robust against the requirements of the national curriculum.
Whole class fluency starters give children an opportunity to revisit prior learning and develop their rapid recall of number facts. This may be Mastering Number in Key Stage 1, times tables or reviewing concepts previously taught at the start of lessons linked to the current lesson objective.
