Maths

At Blackheath Primary School, we believe our spiralled curriculum in maths facilitates every pupil, regardless of ability, to enjoy mathematics, appreciate the magic of maths and feel empowered to succeed. We teach for mastery, aiming for our children to be able to demonstrate fluency within the basics of maths; have a secure conceptual understanding, being able to explain why maths works; and to become skilful and creative problem solvers in the wider world.

Maths is taught on a daily basis throughout school. Across all year groups, we use a range of concrete manipulatives, models and representations alongside abstract concepts to support learning and help create a visual image to aid understanding. We encourage children to become independent in their approaches to Maths; to lead their own learning and apply investigative approaches; and place an emphasis on their reasoning behind their answers.

Our bespoke curriculum is based on the National Curriculum objectives, Development Matters, White Rose Maths, Mastering Number and NCETM PD Materials.

In line with the National Curriculum Objectives for Mathematics, our intent is that all pupils:

Have opportunities to rehearse declarative, procedural and conditional knowledge in maths
Declarative (Fluency) - Children become fluent in the fundamentals of maths through varied and frequent practice with increasing complexity over time. Children are able to recall knowledge rapidly and accurately and make links and connections to prior and wider knowledge.
Procedural (Consolidation) – Children are able to apply knowledge to work mathematically with a good level of understanding and independence. Children select the correct method and procedure.
Conditional (Reasoning and Problem Solving) – Children are able to reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry; conjecture relationships and generalisations; and develop arguments, justification or proof using mathematical language.

Our Maths curriculum supports pupils to:

Have rich and enjoyable experiences in maths – all children are able to feel a sense of achievement and are nurtured and coached to flourish in maths
Develop confident and positive attitudes towards maths
Build on prior learning
Make links and connections within maths
Work independently and collaboratively
Explain and reason understanding thoroughly using accurate mathematical terminology
Use and apply mathematical understanding to real-life contexts
Develop a growth mindset in maths
Have a secure knowledge of core content before developing breadth and depth in learning

Our Curriculum

We have developed a bespoke curriculum, suited specifically to the needs of our learners at Blackheath Primary School, using elements from White Rose Maths and NCETM. We follow a spiral curriculum, which allows aspects of maths to be revisited and built upon in greater depth throughout the year – aiming for mastery.

The Forgetting Curve

‘The Forgetting Curve,’ first described by Hermann Ebbinghaus in 1885, describes a decrease in the brain’s ability to retain memory over time. Within this, he champions the idea of over learning: revisiting topics at regular intervals to secure them in memory. It is the aim that by exposing children to a spiral curriculum, that knowledge will be secured and rehearsed more effectively sustaining active learning in maths, and building confidence of learners. Children will be able to develop a deep understanding of maths, rather than being able to memorise key procedures or resort to rote learning, allowing them to achieve mastery.

All lessons follow this structure:

Mastering Number and Number Sense Times Tables

In KS1 children complete a daily session of ‘Mastering Number’ which enables children to develop Number Sense: the ability to understand, relate and connect numbers. Children with strong number sense think flexibly and fluently about numbers, allowing them to be able to visualise and talk comfortably about numbers. In lower KS2, we teach the Times Table Fluency program from Number Sense. This is a daily, discrete session which teaches children automaticity within 36 essential multiplicative facts. Fluency with these facts reduces cognitive demand enabling children to become more successful mathematicians.

Main Lesson

Involves introducing the main learning; teaching the vocabulary needed for the lesson and applying knowledge to real-life contexts where possible. Lessons are delivered following a CPA (Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract) approach using a wealth of concrete manipulatives, which are firstly modelled and then explored by children. Common misconceptions are identified for each lesson, and explored with children within the main teaching of the lesson.

'I do, We do, You do'

When appropriate, we utilise this approach to firstly model to children before allowing them to explore in group and partner scenarios, before working independently. This allows children to rehearse new content in a comfortable and safe environment before working independently. However, children are also given opportunity to work backwards with this approach: they begin by exploring the concept independently to allow them to decode and ‘show what they know’ before this knowledge is deepened with input from the teacher.

Fluency, Consolidation, Reasoning & Problem Solving

When children begin their work in maths, they begin with ‘Fluency’. These are straightforward questions assessing children’s understanding of the fundamentals and automaticity of the skill. They then move onto the ‘Consolidation’ section of their work. This is when children apply skills to a new scenario. Eg. They may be faced with a missing number/value style scenario. Finally, if secure on all preceding sections, children will complete ‘Reasoning and Problem Solving’ questions where they must reason, conjecture and prove their understanding through questions such as ‘Always true, sometimes true, never true’ or ‘Prove it! Explain it! Convince me! Use it!’ However, reasoning and problem solving is also woven into all main teaching, allowing all children exposure to the skill.

EYFS

The EYFS framework states that developing a strong grounding in number is essential so that all children develop the necessary building blocks to excel mathematically. Children should be able to count confidently; develop a deep understanding of the numbers to 10; understand the relationships between numbers to 10; and identify patterns within those numbers. By providing frequent and varied opportunities to build and apply this understanding – such as using manipulatives, including small pebbles and tens frames for organising counting – children will develop a secure base of knowledge and vocabulary from which the mastery of mathematics is built.

In addition, it is important that the curriculum includes rich opportunities for children to develop their spatial reasoning skills across all areas of mathematics, including shape, space and measures. It is important that children develop positive attitudes and interests in mathematics, look for patterns and relationships, spot connections, ‘have a go’, talk to adults and peers about what they notice, whilst not being afraid to make mistakes.

Children in EYFS follow the 'Mastering Number' program for all Number based objectives, and supplement this with White Rose Maths for Shape, Space and Measure. Both of these programs are developed on in lower KS1 enabling a seamless transition between key stages. In EYFS, we also learn 'Number Fun' songs to help to support our learning and develop automaticity.

Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning

Teachers ensure that they reflect the varied ways that young pupils learn in their curriculum delivery. These ‘characteristics of effective teaching and learning’ are:

Playing and exploring – children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’;
Active learning – children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements;
Creating and thinking critically – children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things.

Early Learning Goals for Maths

Within the EYFS Framework, the ‘specific area’ of mathematics has two ELGs:

Number: Have a deep understanding of number to 10, including the composition of each number. Subitise (recognise quantities without counting) up to 5. Automatically recall (without reference to rhymes, counting or other aids) number bonds up to 5 (including subtraction facts) and some number bonds to 10, including double facts.
Numerical Patterns: Verbally count beyond 20, recognising the pattern of the counting system. Compare quantities up to 10 in different contexts, recognising when one quantity is greater than, less than or the same as the other quantity. Explore and represent patterns within numbers up to 10, including evens and odds, double facts and how quantities can be distributed equally.

Year 1

Children begin the new academic year with a provision focused approach; a whole class maths input is provided before targeted groups of children work with the teacher to deepen their learning. Towards the end of the year, the children transition to a more formal method of learning. Much of the curriculum is based on White Rose Maths and enriched with NCETM activities. Children also participate in the Mastering Number programme daily.

Years 2 – 6

Children are taught using a spiral curriculum, core mathematical concepts are systematically revisited throughout the year to ensure learning is embedded. The teachers plan using White Rose Maths and NCETM.

Children experience same day interventions whenever possible to ensure any misconceptions are swiftly addressed, so that the child is ready for the next lesson. We also use pre-teaching as intervention for some groups of children, alongside ‘Number Stacks’.

Multiplication Facts / Timetables

Recalling multiplication facts with accuracy is very important, especially as children move through school to aid calculations. Children in Year 4 must also complete the statutory MTC (Multiplication Tables Check) in which they must answer 25 questions within 6 seconds each.

At Blackheath Primary, we use Timetables Rock Stars to support children learning their multiplication facts. This fun, interactive platform allows children to play several different games independently or with one another. Weekly rewards and heatmaps are sent home to ensure parents are well-informed on their child’s progress with multiplication facts.

Century Tech Learning

Children in Years 3-6 also have access to Century Learning, which is an interactive platform accessible from home. This intelligent system, built using AI (Artificial Intelligence) creates a personalised learning programme for each child based on their current gaps. Furthermore, it analyses results, so parents can see strengths and areas for development within the parent dashboard to support children at home.

Useful Links

TTRS Century Super Movers Times Tables Practice Numberock MTC Tester

Key Documents