Mathematics

Mathematics is an important creative discipline that helps us to understand and change the world. We want all pupils at Woolavington to experience the beauty, power and enjoyment of mathematics and develop a sense of curiosity about the subject.

We believe that all children can achieve in mathematics in our own ways. We ensure to give a range of opportunities for all children to do mathematics through concrete, pictorial and abstract and we teach for secure and deep understanding of mathematical concepts. We use misconceptions to guide our teaching and learning which helps us to provide challenge through rich and sophisticated problems before acceleration through new content.

We aim for all children to access the same opportunities and use fluency, problem solving and reasoning in order to gain a full understanding of mathematical concepts. We hope that these methods will inspire the children to deepen and widen their understanding in many ways and fully ‘master’ the concept as much as they can.

We aim for all pupils to:

Become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics so that they develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.
Solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of problems, including in unfamiliar contexts and linking to real-life scenarios.
Reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry and develop and present a justification or a contrasting argument using mathematical language.
Have an appreciation of number and operations, which enables mental calculations and written procedures to be performed efficiently, fluently and accurately.

For children to be successful mathematicians teachers need to ensure

Children have an opportunity on a daily basis to rehearse and recall basic mathematical facts (timetables, number bonds) through the Fast Maths approach.
Maths is taught creatively wherever possible to provide context and ensure motivation, challenge and enjoyment.
Children are clear about what they will be learning over the course of a unit of work and the different stages that they will encounter. This will mean every classroom has an Maths Learning wall that reflects this journey and is updated frequently.
Planning for Maths lessons takes into account the Mastery approach adopted by the school and set out in detail in Appendix as well as the needs of individual children and the expectations of the curriculum for that year group.
Teachers are continuously modelling high quality mathematical skills.