Maths at Shelley First School Intent At Shelley First School, every one of our children is a unique individual with their own strengths, aptitudes, interests and dreams. As a school community, we will endeavour to support each child to make the most of every opportunity we offer. We provide enriching experiences to engage learners and in designing and developing our maths curriculum we have taken into consideration how children learn and remember; progress means knowing more and remembering more. We want to provide the opportunity for our children to succeed in life; the cultural capital they need to make aspirational choices and succeed beyond their time at Shelley First School. ‘Mathematics is a creative and highly interconnected discipline that has been developed over centuries providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems. It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. A high quality mathematical education therefore provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the power and beauty of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.’ (DfE 2013) As can be seen from the above introduction, mathematics pervades all aspects of our lives and helps us to make sense of our world. With this in mind we would like to promote the basic and wider understanding of mathematics, and hope to instil an enjoyment in the subject by supporting children to engage with it and build upon their own understanding and promote further learning. Implementation Maths at Shelley First School meets the requirements of the EYFS Framework and the National Curriculum through a Mastery approach to teaching and learning. Planning and resources are carefully selected from the DFE backed sources: NCETM and White Rose. Teachers at Shelley select the most suitable resources to ensure progression and allow children to go deeper into their learning. We have adapted our planning to ensure a CPA (concrete, pictorial and abstract) approach to all lessons. This will allow the children to have a variation in their procedural fluency and conceptual understanding. Teaching for mastery rejects the idea that a large proportion of people ‘just can’t do maths’. At Shelley all children are encouraged by the belief that by working hard at maths, they can succeed. The children are taught through whole-class interactive teaching, where the focus is on all pupils working together on the same lesson content at the same time, as happens in Shanghai and several other regions that teach maths successfully. Teaching through Mastery ensures that all can master concepts before moving to the next part of the curriculum sequence, allowing no child to be left behind. If a child fails to grasp a concept or procedure, this is identified quickly and early intervention ensures the child is ready to move forward with the whole class in the next lesson. Significant time is spent developing deep knowledge of the key ideas that are needed to underpin future learning. The structure and connections within the mathematics are emphasised, so that pupils develop deep learning that can be sustained. Impact
Together we succeed
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