Holgate Primary School Maths Vision Statement

 

At Holgate Primary school, we believe that mathematics is an important life skill.

Our curriculum enables our children to gain the necessary understanding, skills and knowledge that will empower them to gain the confidence and enjoyment of mathematics.

We believe that mathematics:

• must prioritise fluency so all children can access and develop concepts,
• make links to and across the curriculum and deepen understanding.
• embolden children to become problemsolvers.
• should provide children with opportunities to reason and think logically.

Maths is taught through structured sessions designed to allow children to make progress at each stage and also to think at a deeper level about each concept or skill. An anchor task at the start of the lesson contextualises the skill and also allows all children an opportunity to think deeply about the skill being taught. This is then followed by a guided practice which is more heavily structured and allows all pupils to see a skill being applied – this is also an opportunity for pupils to work together to practice a skill before moving on to the independent part of the session. This independent part is structured through the Challenge by Choice (chilli challenge) approach and pupils are given opportunities to choose the level appropriate for them and work with adult support if necessary.

Each class also does a daily 5 in 5 (or 3 in 3 in year 1) fluency task which is designed to support children in building the speed with which they can recall number facts such as number bonds, times tables, multiplying by powers of 10 or finding simple fractions of amounts. Towards the start of the year, these are likely to be based on gaps from the academic year below but will move to be covering more age-related gap.

Times table subject knowledge is also something which features strongly in our teaching of mathematics. We take a number of approaches to support this:

• Numbots - this is an online programme which each KS1 pupil has access to and is designed to continue and consolidate basic number facts.
• Times Table Rockstars – this is an online programme which each KS2 pupil has access to and is designed to continue times table practice at home and also develops a passion and excitement around times table learning.
• Times Table Superheroes – these are a series of levelled timed challenges that pupils work through. They do a paper-based times table exercise weekly and move through the superhero named levels. These again increase the emphasis on times tables but also ensure each child within a class is working on a personalised times table target and progress is tracked. The focus for each test includes multiplication and division facts as well as contextualised problems. These have also been made available for online learning.
• Shanghai sessions – Shanghai sessions take place fortnightly in Y1 – Y3 (moving on to weekly in Y4) and are a focused session on a specific times table which all children access.
  They are designed to absorb children in a times table for a lesson and allow for repetition and building up of knowledge through guided sessions and short tasks which in turn lead to increased independence in that particular times table.
• Arithmetic – Timed mental arithmetic sessions are completed fortnightly in Years 2-6, which are marked with support of the class teacher. These provide staff with a useful analysis of gaps that inform future teaching.

 

For remote maths learning for Years 1-6, lessons mirror the in-school pedagogical approach.

It is necessary for the current maths provision to adhere to our long-term overviews in order for children to continue to make progression and to address gaps in missed learning. Staff’s views have been taken into account to reflect children’s current gaps and learning needs when updating these overviews. The format through which children access their home maths learning has been tailored towards maximising children’s engagement through the use of personalised explanation and modelling.

Please see our year group overviews for Maths at the bottom of this page.

Follow the links to watch video guides showing how your child is taught to complete calculations.

KS1

Year 1

Year 2

KS2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6