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Four Acres Academy
Building relationships that enable children to learn, grow and achieve
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Being a Mathematician
Being a Mathematician
Intent:
At Four Acres Academy, we aspire for our pupils to be confident Mathematicians who are able to experience the power and enjoyment of Maths. Mathematics is a skill that we use on a daily basis and is an essential part of our everyday lives which is why it forms such an important part of our broad and balanced curriculum. As a school, we recognise that the key to showing our children’s potential in Maths is through developing their basic mathematical skills and deepening their understanding of mathematical concepts. As a result of this, we focus on the use of concrete resources and pictorial representations throughout each year group to support children when they are presented with abstract questions. Our overarching aim as a school is to promote a positive ‘can do’ attitude and encourage the children to know that we all can do Maths.
We aim for our pupils to:
• Become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics so they are able to recall and apply knowledge rapidly
• Have the confidence to apply their mathematics to solve problems
• Use mathematical language to reason and explain answers.
We follow The National Curriculum 2014 which sets out the statutory requirements for Mathematics year by year. For more information please see the Maths National Curriculum.
Implementation:
As a school, we believe in the importance of following the concrete-pictorial-abstract approach to Maths as this allows all children, of all attainment levels, the opportunity to develop a solid understanding of mathematical concepts. Children become ‘Mathematicians’ and are taught Maths for approximately 1 hour daily. They are also provided opportunities daily to improve fluency skills (eg. times tables practise).
We use White Rose as guidance when medium and long-term planning with a vision to shape happy, confident and resilient learners. We break the teaching sequence down into small achievable steps and follow the concrete-pictorial-abstract approach. As a school, we encourage the use of concrete and pictorial resources to support those that require additional support to develop understanding.
A typical Maths lesson at Four Acres will follow this structure:
Calculation policy:
Inclusion: Through differentiation and the support of Teaching Assistants, all children will receive high quality teaching and appropriate support in order for every child to reach their full potential. Children may receive additional support if necessary outside of the Maths lessons through interventions such as On Track Maths.
Display:
Classrooms should have displays and Maths learning walls which:
• Contain key vocabulary
• Steps to success for method being taught.
• Are an integral part of teaching
• Offer challenge
• Celebrate children's achievement.
Impact:
Assessment
Assessment is used to monitor progress and to identify any child needing additional support.
- Assessment for learning is used:
- daily within class to identify children needing keep-up support delivered by quality first teaching.
- daily with the use of a hinge question at the end of the teacher input which informs the teacher of who needs immediate intervention and who is able to work independently.
- To identify individuals and/or groups who may need specific intervention.
- Summative assessment is used:
- To assess progress, to identify gaps in learning that need to be addressed, to identify any children needing additional support and to plan the keep-up support that they need.
- By SLT and scrutinised using the PUMA results, to close attainment gaps and identify if additional support for teachers or pupils should be put into place.
Statutory Assessment
- Children in Year 2 sit the Key Stage 1 SATs paper for Mathematics (arithmetic and reasoning).
- Children in year 6 sit the Key Stage 2 SATs paper for Mathematics (arithmetic and reasoning).
- Children in year 4 sit the Multiplication Tables Check online.