Maths
What is our vision for Maths?
At Newington Green, we believe in the power of maths to change our children’s lives. Being a confident mathematician enables children to navigate and solve real-life problems. We are committed to equipping all of our pupils with the necessary knowledge and understanding to succeed in the next phase of their mathematics education and beyond. We have designed our maths curriculum with our children’s long-term futures in mind and know that we are laying the foundations they will need in future employment and as financially literate citizens.
As teachers who are passionate about maths, we want our children to know that the maths they learn inside and outside of the classroom has the potential unlock doors in their futures as scientists, engineers and designers. We also believe that, like a love of literature, a love of maths – its patterns and its power – is a fundamental right for all children. We are unwaveringly ambitious for all pupils in our maths curriculum.
When children leave us to take their next steps as mathematicians, we ensure that they are confident in the three strands of reasoning, fluency and problem solving.
What do maths lessons look like in our school and how do we plan lessons?
At Newington Green, we follow a mastery approach to teaching Maths. Mastering maths means all pupils acquiring a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of the subject. Maths is taught in mixed attainment groups. The mastery approach means no child is left behind. Responsive teaching and flexible grouping ensures that all children receive the support they need to succeed and all children experience meaningful challenge.
We follow the National Curriculum for maths and use high-quality resources from the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) to sequence learning so that learning builds logically and progressively from the starting points in our EYFS to ambitious end points at the end of Key Stage 2. Each strand of learning follows a clear and coherent sequence of small steps to secure mastery.
At each stage of our maths curriculum, children use manipulatives like diennes and place value counters to gain a deep understanding of numbers, mathematical operations and processes. In each phase, teachers use carefully-selected visual representations (models and images) to ensure children develop deep and flexible conceptual understanding.
We place a high emphasis on high-quality talk and articulation in our maths curriculum. Precise mathematical vocabulary is taught explicitly in line with definitions provided in the NCETM glossary and children are scaffolded to think and reason using high-quality sentence stems.
Lesson design in maths aligns with Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction. Following high-quality modelling and explanation, children engage with generative learning tasks with appropriate levels of scaffolding which are faded over time. Teachers use ongoing assessment for learning to respond to misconceptions and errors and to ensure children obtain a high success rate in independent learning before exploring new challenges.
Fluency
Our curriculum design also ensures children develop fluency and automaticity in important number facts. We know that rapid recall of things like times tables and number bonds empowers children to calculate accurately and efficiently and to solve a rich range of problems. All lessons involve a focus on being fluent mathematicians. Fluency practice is varied and engaging. Children complete ‘beat its’ to recall key facts or use mini-white boards to complete a quick-fire round.
Reasoning
Alongside learning key number facts, children learn to reason about their maths. This involves partner talk and having to justify answers using mathematical vocabulary. Being able to say why an answer or method is correct or incorrect shows mastery of an area of maths. It also enables children to better notice and self-correct when they are not on track. Reasoning also involves pattern spotting and looking for rules and connections. Children are encouraged to look for patterns and links, find mistakes, make generalisations and solve questions in more than one way. Questions and conjectures are celebrated and explored together to work towards a shared understanding.
Problem-Solving
Problem-solving is an element in all units of maths. Children are given opportunities to apply calculation strategies to real-life problems. Discussion is a key element of problem-solving; tackling a problem in different ways is celebrated. Children learn to think creatively and know that there is no ‘one correct way’ to represent or solve a problem. As mathematicians, they must draw on all of their knowledge and skills to decide how best to get started and what to do if their first try does not work. Through problem solving children therefore develop flexible thinking and resilience: the problems are not supposed to feel easy to solve but they certainly feel satisfying when a solution is finally reached.
What can you do to help your child at home?
Supporting your child with maths at home can be both fun and rewarding. Encourage them to practise their skills in everyday situations, such as counting change at the shop, measuring ingredients while cooking, or telling the time. Regular practice of times tables is especially important, as it builds a strong foundation for more complex problem-solving and helps children gain confidence in their number work. Alongside this, completing their Doodle Maths homework each day is a great way to reinforce classroom learning and develop independent study habits.
Please see the Medium Term Plans below:
Please see everything you need to know below: