Maths
We are proud to be a Maths Hub school and are part of the continuing programme to develop teaching for mastery in maths in primary schools. This project is fully funded by the DfE and provides professional development opportunities for our teaching staff.
INTENT
At Havannah Primary School, we believe all children should enjoy becoming skilled mathematicians. The aim of our mathematics curriculum is to build long-lasting learning through progressive acquisition of knowledge and skills. We want our pupils to become confident, competent and independent mathematicians, who are able to build a deep conceptual understand of maths and its interrelated connectiveness, so they can apply their learning in different situations. We aim to develop children’s ability to articulate, discuss and explain their thinking using appropriate mathematical vocabulary.
Our maths curriculum is achievable for all. Pupils are taught through whole-class interactive teaching, by skilled and enthusiastic teachers, where the focus is on all pupils working together on the same lesson content at the same time. This ensures that all children can master concepts before moving to the next part of the curriculum sequence, allowing no pupil to be left behind. If a pupil fails to grasp a concept or procedure, this is identified quickly and early intervention ensures the pupil is ready to move forward with the whole class in the next lesson. Although the teaching of the concepts is the same for all, the outcomes in terms of application, may be different.
In our mathematics teaching, we aim to instil the mindset that everyone can do maths and that maths is for everyone. Mistake-friendly classrooms help children recognise the power mistakes have on our learning. Mistakes also support our pupils in developing resilience and inquisitiveness within the maths curriculum.
IMPLEMENTATION
As recognised by the NCETM, the use of a well-designed and tested textbook is important for the successful implementation of teaching for mastery. Therefore, we teach our maths curriculum, through the use of Power Maths – a government recommended, high-quality mastery textbook. Power Maths is a whole-class mastery programme designed to spark curiosity and excitement and help nurture confidence in maths.
Power Maths’ mastery approach values real understanding and richer, deeper learning above speed. It sees all children learning the same concept in small, cumulative steps, each finding and mastering challenge at their own level. Power Maths reinforces our belief that everyone can do maths. Those who grasp a concept easily, have time to explore and understand that concept at a deeper level. The whole class therefore moves through the curriculum at broadly the same pace via individual learning journeys. The next lesson in a Power Maths sequence always revises and builds on the previous step to help embed learning. These activities provide golden opportunities for individual children to strengthen their learning. Same-day interventions – either before, within or after a lesson – are a crucial safety net for any child who has not fully made the small step covered that day or who may require pre-teaching to assess and succeed in a lesson. At Havannah Primary School, intervention is always about keeping up, not catching up, so that every child has the skills, knowledge understanding they need to tackle the next lesson.
As well as regular, on-going formative assessment, summative assessments take place at the end of a unit and also at the end of each half term using the Power Maths Progress Tests.
IMPACT
When they leave each phase, learners have the knowledge, skills and vocabulary necessary to progress to the next stage of their learning. As a result of high-quality teaching, learners makes sustained progress in mathematics and develop the competence to reason and problem solve confidently and efficiently. Pupil voice has been fundamental in assessing the impact of our mathematics curriculum. Children show enjoyment and a genuine love of learning in maths. From Reception, children are able to speak confidently about the mathematics they have been taught and explain using precise mathematical language. Children are able to use a wide-variety of representations and enjoy using practical resources to scaffold their learning. Children are proud to be resilient learners and enjoy working collaboratively in maths. However, children understand the importance of independent work and, if needed, have developed a range of strategies to support themselves in maths before seeking guidance from teaching staff.
At Havannah we are proud to be able to offer all our children the opportunity to embrace the Power Maths scheme.
Power Maths is a whole-class mastery programme designed to spark curiosity and excitement and help you nurture confidence in maths.
The only mastery programme perfectly aligned to the White Rose Maths progressions and schemes of learning, it’s written specifically for UK classrooms by leading mastery experts, and is recommended by the Department for Education.
Rich textbooks provide a coherent structure through the curriculum and support children on their journey towards deeper understanding. Practice Books give the pupils just the right amount of intelligent practice for children to complete independently.
What is Power Maths?Power Maths is a resource that has been designed for UK schools based on research and extensive experience of teaching and learning around the world and here in the UK. It has been designed to support and challenge all pupils, and is built on the belief that EVERYONE can learn maths successfully.
How does this support our approach to teaching?The philosophy behind Power Maths is that being successful in maths is not just about rote-learning procedures and methods, but is instead about problem solving, thinking and discussing. Many people feel they were taught maths in a way that was about memorising formulas and calculation methods, then having to apply them without any real understanding of what or how these methods actually work. Power Maths includes practice questions to help children develop fluent recall and develop their conceptual understanding. Power Maths uses growth mindset characters to prompt, encourage and question children. They spark curiosity, engage reasoning, secure understanding and deepen learning for all.
How will the lessons work?Each lesson has a progression, with a central flow that draws the main learning into focus. There are different elements, informed by research into best practice in maths teaching, that bring the lessons to life:
- Discover – each lesson begins with a problem to solve, often a real-life example, sometimes a puzzle or a game. These are engaging and fun, and designed to get all children thinking.
- Share – the class shares their ideas and compares different ways to solve the problem, explaining their reasoning with hands-on resources and drawings to make their ideas clear. Children are able to develop their understanding of the concept with input from the teacher.
- Think together – the next part of the lesson is a journey through the concept, digging deeper and deeper so that each child builds on secure foundations while being challenged to apply their understanding in different ways and with increasing independence.
- Practice – now children practice individually or in small groups, rehearsing and developing their skills to build fluency, understanding of the concept and confidence.
- Reflect – finally, children are prompted to reflect on and record their learning from each session and show how they have grasped the concept explored in the lesson.
What if my child needs a confidence boost, or wants to be challenged further? Power Maths is based on a ‘small-steps’ approach, sometimes called a mastery approach. This means that the concepts are broken down so that your child can master one idea without feeling over-whelmed. There are a range of fluency, reasoning and problem solving questions in each lesson that are designed to support the different needs and confidence levels within a class, while at the same time fostering a spirit of working and learning together. Each lesson includes a challenge question for those children who can delve deeper into a concept.
Practise at home...
Times Tables Rock Stars: Play (ttrockstars.com)
ActiveLearn: Login (activelearnprimary.co.uk)