Vision

All children develop the vocabulary and skills to reason and apply their maths learning

At Kingsway we promote a love and enjoyment for maths and believe that all children can achieve, as Mathematics is such an important life skill!

We follow The Essentials sequence of learning produced by Herts for Learning, allowing pupils to spend longer on key mathematical concepts, most noticeably number. During these longer units, pupils will see mathematics in a real life context, before moving at an appropriate pace from the concrete/pictorial approach to the abstract.

This programme is designed for children to use a range of resources to support and explain their thinking. It develops students’ ability to reason and talk through their answers. We emphasise the importance of varying how we present problems to children in order for them to make connections between all areas of mathematics as well as apply their skills to unfamiliar situations. Each classroom is equipped with a range of resources to support children’s learning.

In all lessons, teachers will provide opportunities to support and deepen understanding of a concept through questioning, consolidating and variation in learning. Small steps are made to address all misconceptions and for pupils to understand the process of their thinking. Speaking and listening is a big part of our mathematical learning environment, and we aim to give children the confidence to talk about how and why they have used certain strategies.

We have a strong emphasis on mental calculation where through our weekly 30minute fluency and recall sessions where children are given the time and support to reach solutions with speed and accuracy.

In order to further promote enjoyment, and to support progress and overall attainment, the children will often use ICT with every class having access to chromebooks. The school also subscribes to Purple Mash and TTRockstars, a popular home learning tool that encourages our pupils to continue to develop their mathematical skills outside of school.

Some children can feel afraid of maths and can become demotivated from quite a young age. However, here at Kingsway, we strive to put the magic into learning so that pupils develop mathematical fluency, reasoning and problem solving skills, and of course a love of number!

These all allow us to focus our learning around the three main aims of the mathematics curriculum, which are:

• Fluency
• Reasoning
• Problem Solving