Mathematics

Mathematics Overview

Mathematics is important in everyday life. It is integral to all aspects of life and with this in mind at Throckley Primary we endeavour to ensure that children develop a positive and enthusiastic attitude towards mathematics that will stay with them beyond their time at our school. The school has developed a mastery approach to Mathematics, following the NCETM progression framework to support teachers in delivering this approach. Throckley Primary is part of the Great North Maths Hub Mastery workgroup. This gives the school the opportunity to receive support from a mastery specialist teacher as well as the opportunity to share good practice with other schools in the workgroup.

Mathematics equips pupils with the uniquely powerful set of tools to understand and change the world. These tools include logical reasoning, problem solving skills and the ability to think in abstract ways. Mathematics is integral to all aspects of everyday life and, with this in mind, at Throckley Primary we endeavour to ensure that children develop a positive and enthusiastic attitude towards mathematics that will stay with them beyond their time at our school. Mathematical skills and knowledge should be delivered, explored and revisited through conscious decision making and awareness of learning and progress needs and abilities. Children should develop resilience and self-confidence in applying their learning skills.

The School’s Curriculum Drivers:

Understanding our place in the world
Aspiring to achieve
Broadening horizons

As part of the mastery approach, a positive teacher mind-set and strong subject knowledge are key to student success in Mathematics. The school is committed to providing a purposeful and empowering Mathematics curriculum. It is not the case that some pupils can do Mathematics and others cannot; no pupil should be left behind and the focus is keeping up over catching up. By making high expectations clear and emphasising the value of Mathematics education, pupils are encouraged to build confidence, resilience and aspire to achieve. Abilities are neither fixed nor innate, but can be developed through practice, support, dedication and hard work. Natural talent is just a starting point and does not determine who has more or less potential to achieve. This way, pupils at the school are broadening their horizons with a Mathematics curriculum that fully prepares learners for their next steps in their school career and opens doors to understanding their place and the place of Mathematics in the wider world, regardless of a child’s background and ability.

A positive teacher mind-set in Mathematics encourages a love of learning and resilience that enables everyone to achieve. We are committed to ensuring that all pupils are given the opportunity to achieve mastery in the key concepts of Mathematics, appropriate for their age group, in order that they make genuine progress and avoid gaps in their understanding that provide barriers to learning as they move through education. Assessment for Learning, an emphasis on investigation, cross curricular Mathematics, problem solving and the development of Mathematical thinking and a rigorous approach to the development of teacher subject knowledge, are therefore essential components of Throckley Primary’s approach to this subject.

Our Mathematics curriculum is diligently sequenced to ensure that knowledge gained is cumulative; this aids progression as well as frequently providing pupils with the opportunity to draw on knowledge from previous year groups through our bespoke spaced retrieval strategies. Through this, our pupils understand the importance of the knowledge they gain through their Mathematics lessons while at Throckley and how it can be transferred to all areas of the curriculum. Providing pupils with these opportunities to put it into practice what they have learnt, we aim to ensure they are not only secondary school ready but can apply what they’ve learnt from primary school to their future career paths.

Woven into every Mathematics lesson, the Throckley OWLs (Our Wonderful Learners) encourage positive learning behaviours and support children in developing the skills that we believe are necessary for success in the wider world. At Throckley Primary School, we encourage children to use our OWLs to actively plan, monitor and evaluate their own learning within Mathematics lessons, especially when building up to an authentic, written outcome. By channelling a specific OWL, pupils are able to develop transferable skills that they can use within the subject of Mathematics in order to develop metacognitive skills. They can understand how they learn best or what tools they can use to aid their knowledge of Mathematical skills. Once assured of the behaviour the OWLs symbolise, they can apply them throughout their lives so that they are resilient and confident learners.

Subject Aims

Mathematics is important in everyday life. It is integral to all aspects of life and with this in mind, at Throckley Primary, we endeavour to ensure that children develop a positive and enthusiastic attitude towards Mathematics that will stay with them throughout their lives. It is vital that a positive attitude towards Mathematics is encouraged amongst all of our pupils in order to foster confidence and achievement in a skill that is essential in our society.

We aim to provide pupils with a Mathematics curriculum and high-quality teaching to produce individuals who are numerate, creative, independent, inquisitive, enquiring and confident. We also aim to provide a stimulating environment through the use of real-life contexts and adequate resources so that pupils can develop their Mathematical skills to the full.

Subject Content

Our pupils should:

Have a well-developed sense of the size of a number and where it fits into the number system.
Know by heart, age appropriate number facts such as number bonds, multiplication tables, doubles and halves.
Use what they know by heart, to figure out numbers mentally.
Calculate accurately and efficiently, both mentally and in writing and paper, drawing on a range of calculation strategies.
Recognise when it is appropriate to use a calculator and be able to do so effectively.
Make sense of number problems, including non-routine/’real’ problems and identify the operations needed to solve them.
Explain their methods and reasoning, using correct mathematical terms.
Judge whether their answers are reasonable and have strategies for checking them where necessary.
Suggest suitable units for measuring and make sensible estimates of measurements.
Explain and make predictions from the numbers in graphs, diagrams, charts and tables.
Develop spatial awareness and an understanding of the properties of 2d and 3d shapes.