Mathematics
Mathematics: Led by Miss Foster
Why Learn Mathematics?
The National Curriculum Mathematics programme of study (2021) states that:
“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 mathematics education therefore provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject”.
Mathematics provides a way of viewing and making sense of the world and is essential to everyday life. It is used to analyse and communicate information and connect ideas and to tackle a range of practical tasks and real-life problems. Our high quality, direct teaching is creative, interactive, and lively.
Mathematics is a two-way process in which children play an active part developing higher order thinking skills, asking, and answering questions, solving problems, contributing points to discussion and explaining, reasoning and demonstrating their methods to the class.
Curriculum Intent
Mathematics is essential to everyday life. We have designed our curriculum to give children a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about mathematics as well as an understanding of how it fits into the world. We link the mathematics curriculum with other subjects such as science to provide children with real life experiences so that they can apply what they know and can do with increasing fluency and independence.
When planning our curriculum, we wanted children to have opportunities to gain a strong grounding in number which is essential so they can develop the necessary building blocks to excel mathematically. Our aim is to ensure children can count confidently and develop a deep understanding of numbers, so they are able to look for patterns and relationships, spot connections, ‘have a go’, talk to adults and peers about what they notice and not be afraid to make mistakes. Spatial reasoning skills in shape, space and measure are essential also so children gain an understanding of the location and dimension of objects and how objects are related.
Our curriculum has a strong emphasis on spoken language because we believe that the quality and variety of language that children hear and speak are key factors in developing their mathematical vocabulary. Mathematical reasoning is the bridge between fluency and problem solving so children need the language to present a mathematical justification, argument, or proof. We are eager that children learn how to reason and make sense of mathematics so that they are able to use it in meaningful ways.
The Curriculum for Mathematics at Wrockwardine Wood Infant School and Nursery aims to ensure that all pupils:
- Become FLUENT in the fundamentals of maths
- Gain conceptual understanding and be able to recall and apply their knowledge rapidly and accurately to problems.
- REASON and EXPLAIN mathematically by following a line of enquiry, justifying or proving outcomes using mathematical language.
- Can apply their mathematics to SOLVE PROBLEMS across the curriculum, breaking down problems into simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.
- Can remedy misconceptions through discussion.
Curriculum Implementation
- Through professional development, working closely with a mathematics consultant, all staff gain the necessary subject knowledge to teach mathematics to a high standard.
- We will develop children’s understanding of mathematical concepts through high quality teaching and carefully thought-out sequences of lessons which build on prior learning.
- We will ensure children understand mathematics by exploring concepts using concrete equipment before moving onto pictorial and then abstract representations.
- We will teach children appropriate mathematical skills to enable them to become fluent mathematicians and to be able to apply their skills and knowledge to solve problems and reason and explain mathematically.
- We will ignite children’s enthusiasm and curiosity enabling them to think as a mathematician and understand it’s place in the world we live in.
Please click the links below to access the following documents for Mathematics:
Knowledge and Skills Progression