Intent

'Mathematics is a creative and highly inter-connected discipline...It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering...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.'

National Curriculum 2014

Here at Collis, we have a passion for high quality teaching and learning of Mathematics. With our high expectations, we believe that every child can succeed in Mathematics and we aim to instil this belief in the children themselves. Our mathematics teaching is underpinned by a maths mastery approach and mixed ability teaching. We know that Mathematics plays at important role in everyday life and we want to help children to make meaningful connections between different areas of Mathematics and its purpose in the wider world. Through establishing these rich connections, children are able to develop their fluency, mathematical reasoning and competency in solving increasingly sophisticated problems – the main aims of the National Curriculum. 

Implementation

At Collis our Mathematics curriculum has been carefully sequenced to allow for thorough exploration of mathematical ideas in creative and engaging lessons, enabling them to have an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject. Mathematics lessons explore learning through concrete, pictorial and abstract representations, and manipulatives (physical resources) are carefully selected to allow children to explore the structures of maths. For example, the even/odd structures explored through Numicon are different to the structures of five and ten explored through tens frames, while both expose number bonds to ten in different ways. 

The use of concrete resources and pictorial representations allow children to develop mental models which they can then apply without relying on the concrete manipulatives. We focus on the relationships between mathematical concepts and skills and provide opportunities for children to use their understanding flexibly.

Currently, we are transitioning from using Power Maths to the NCETM Curriculum Prioritisation, so our planning combines elements from both of these high quality resources. In the future, we are aiming to base our long term planning on the NCETM Curriculum Prioritisation exclusively but we appreciate that it will take time for us to do this effectively and systematically. 

Impact

The progression in knowledge and skills is carefully planned in order to build fluency and deepen understanding of underlying mathematical concepts to help children commit learning to their long term memory. Teaching is enhanced by a clear understanding of what children have learnt in previous years - with particular attention given to the Ready to Progress Criteria - and where their learning journey will continue into Year 6 and beyond. 

Children are assessed on their knowledge and skills regularly and in a variety of ways. Teachers respond to pupils’ work through written marking and verbal feedback on a whole class, group, paired or individual level.

Mathematics in the Early years

“Children are born ready, able and eager to learn. They actively reach out to interact with other people, and in the world around them. Development is not an automatic process, however. It depends on each unique child having opportunities to interact in positive relationships and enabling environments.”

Development Matters 2012

During the EYFS the essential building blocks of mathematics are established. The first few years of a child’s life are especially important for mathematics development. In Nursery and Reception, there are regular opportunities for children to participate in rich mathematical tasks. Through their experiences of early number, children at Collis will develop a secure knowledge base, vocabulary and develop a positive, ‘have a go’ attitude to maths. 

There are six key areas of early mathematics learning, which provide a spring board for everything children will encounter as they progress through their maths learning at primary school, and beyond. 
The six areas of early mathematics learning are:
1.    Cardinality and counting
2.    Comparison
3.    Composition
4.    Pattern
5.    Shape and space
6.    Measures