Our vision for maths is for all pupils to become confident, competent and resilient mathematicians who relish the challenge of maths and have a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject. We aim to provide a curriculum that is accessible for all, will extend the development of every child’s ability and provide them with the necessary knowledge and skills for them to be successful in the future. It is our aim to prepare children to recognise structures within maths helping to develop their fluency. In our lessons, we integrate sustained levels of challenge through varied and high-quality activities that focus on fluency, reasoning and problem solving. When teaching, we use a wide range of resources and provide the children with a variety of methods that they can apply to practical and real-life contexts.
At Fairhaven we follow the National Curriculum for Mathematics. The National Curriculum aims to ensure that all children:
1. 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
2. reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language
3. can 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
Our schemes of learning are centred on a depth based curriculum, so the aim is for all children to master (to one degree or another) the concept taught. Pupils are also expected to use appropriate mathematical vocabulary to reason logically and to explain their ideas. As part of our daily lessons, emphasis is placed upon revising and revisiting to aid pupil retention of key learning.
Every year group at Fairhaven follows the White Rose scheme of learning which is based on the National Curriculum. This allows us to teach the National Curriculum, supported by clear skills and knowledge progression. This also ensures that skills and knowledge are built on each year and sequenced appropriately to their age and ability and maximises learning for all of our pupils. Children follow the small steps for the unit of learning applicable to their age group.
During the main part of our lessons, we follow a modelled, guided, independent approach to teaching. Initially, teachers model the concept being taught in small steps with pupil practise after each step. Pupils focus on the explanation being given including the vocabulary used by the teacher.
Teaching is planned around a concrete, pictorial and abstract (CPA) approach. When new concepts are introduced, staff always look for an appropriate strategy using concrete resources and then identify mathematical images to support learning.
Concrete – children have the opportunity to use concrete objects and manipulatives to help them understand and explain what they are doing.
Pictorial – children then build on this concrete approach by using pictorial representations, which can then be used to reason and solve problems.
Abstract – with the foundations firmly laid, children can move to an abstract approach using numbers and key concepts with confidence.
Once the concept has been introduced and rehearsed using the modelled, guided and independent approach children should be grouped by the teacher into three flexible groups:
• Children who haven’t understood the concept and need re-teaching. This group should be re-taught by the teacher;
• Children who have understood the concept but require consolidation through further practise;
• Children who have a good understanding and need to be given the opportunity to apply the concept in a range of contextual situations, possibly requiring other prior learning to be applied at the same time.
When regrouping pupils, teachers use questioning to identify conceptual and procedural knowledge and assess pupils regularly to identify those needing to be re-taught.
Children at Fairhaven Primary School understand and value the importance of Mathematics; this is evident through pupil voice and monitoring of books. By the end of KS2 we aim for children to be fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics with a conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately. They have the skills to solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of situations including in unfamiliar contexts and to real-life situations.
Our pupils are developing their ability to reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry and develop and present a justification, argument or proof using mathematical methods and language.
Children at Fairhaven also develop factual fluency (automaticity) for key facts including times tables and can recall the key steps when using mathematical procedures.
KIRFs are designed to support the development of mental maths skills that underpin much of the daily work in our school. They are particularly useful when calculating, adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing. They contain number facts (such as number bonds and multiplication tables) that need constant practise and rehearsal so that children can recall them quickly and accurately. Instant recall of facts helps enormously with mental agility in maths lessons. When children move onto written calculations, knowing these key facts is very beneficial.
Below are the key facts broken down by each year group. KIRFS for each group are shown in black font. The statements in red show learning from previous years that will be revisited to ensure pupils have secure understanding and can recall these key facts with automaticity.
Parents can help their children by practising the key facts for each half term at home. The documents below contain all of the KIRFS for each year group broken down into half termly targets.