Intent
At Windy Nook, we recognise that maths is essential for everyday life; it is critical to other subjects such as: science and technology. Maths is accessible to all and maximises children’s mathematical concepts, skills and thinking strategies to become a successful workforce of the future in our modern world. This is achieved through exploration, clarification, practice and application over time, and will help to develop our core curriculum skills of reasoning and problem solving. Through teaching this approach, we intend to help children make sense of numbers, shapes and patterns that they see in the world around them, whilst providing opportunities to handle numbers and data in our increasingly digital world. Mathematics is not solely taught as a discreet subject, but mathematical skills will also be consolidated in other curricular areas. It is our intent that children develop their strong number sense so that as their confidence grows, they will be able to look for patterns, manipulate numbers to make calculations easier, work out calculations mentally, use logical reasoning, suggest solutions and enjoy investigating and exploring numbers.
We follow the 3 aims of the National Curriculum for maths:
- become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.
- reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language
- solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.
Please click the link below to find out more on the maths curriculum at Windy Nook:
Maths Policy Windy Nook Primary School November 2022
Yearly Overview
Year 1 2024-2025
Year 2 2024-2025
Year 3 2024-2025
Year 4 2024-2025
Year 5 2024-2025
Year 6 2024-2025
Implementation
Lessons are carefully planned to ensure thorough coverage of the national curriculum content and to give children the time to delve deeply into each skill, following a mastery approach. Within each maths lesson, our children will have opportunities to learn using the concrete, pictorial and abstract (CPA) method, which involves using actual objects for children to add, subtract, multiply or divide. They then progress to using pictorial representations of the object, and ultimately, abstract symbols. It is a highly effective approach to teaching that develops a deep and sustainable understanding of maths in pupils. Children often find maths difficult because it is abstract. However, as they progress through school they will be actively encouraged to show understanding of maths using all three aspects of the (CPA) model. Staff have become skilled in understanding the balance and implementation of the 3 aims required and through formative assessment and careful planning of maths lessons, children are exposed to all 3 elements on a weekly basis – this will ensure that they become both competent and confident in all areas of maths.
A cyclical curriculum approach has been developed; therefore, ensuring that a continuous cycle which is responsive to changes within a year-group or phase. Each unit has been broken down into small steps. Teachers can make appropriate adjustments to account for these changes over the course of the academic year. There will be a need for over learning and objectives to be continuously revisited during explicit lessons and through daily basic skills (Speed Calc). Children participate in a daily ‘Speed Calc’ session, whereby they are given a set of number-driven questions (age specific), which they are expected to answer within a given time frame. It is this area of the maths curriculum, which has maximum impact and is bespoke to our learners at Windy Nook, and equips our learners with the basic mathematical skills, we believe, for the next stage in their learning. ‘Shape and Space’ and maths facts such as: Roman Numerals and times tables are also covered within these sessions (Speed Shape and Speed Facts). A cyclical curriculum approach has been developed; therefore, ensuring that a continuous cycle which is responsive to changes within a year-group or phase. Teachers can make appropriate adjustments to account for these changes over the course of the academic year. We stimulate our children’s curiosity, foster their creativity and equip them with the skills that they will need in life beyond school by being enthusiastic about mathematics and through the clear modelling of our own thought process. As the required mathematical content becomes more challenging, we encourage and model resilience and determination.
Impact
Children at Windy Nook develop the knowledge, skills and understanding to help them become successful in our modern world. Children’s skills progress to enable them to not only have met the requirements of the National Curriculum but also to have developed a good number sense where they enjoy exploring numbers and solving problems that are useful in real life contexts and the wider world. We see that a mathematical concept or skill has been mastered when a child can show it in multiple ways, using the mathematical language to explain their ideas, and can independently apply the concept to new problems in unfamiliar situations.