Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School & Community Nursery

Mathematics Curriculum Offer

Learning

Intent

At HTPS, we recognise that mathematics is essential in everyday life. The intent of our mathematics curriculum is to provide children with a foundation for understanding number, reasoning, thinking logically and resilient problem solving so that they are fully prepared for the future. We believe that number underpins almost every area of mathematics across the whole mathematics curriculum. Number is a priority in this school and is reflected in the amount of time that we spend on number-based maths units. It is our intent to form firm foundations in number that will promote the development of number sense and mental arithmetic. This will prioritise speedy recall of number bonds and time tables and a clear understanding of fractions which will allow the children to reason and problem solve as they move through the primary curriculum.

Journey

Implementation

At Holy Trinity Primary School, we have adopted a coherent, rigorous and sequential approach to maths which is guided by the National Curriculum but shaped by ‘White Rose Maths’.

White Rose Maths

White Rose Maths is an award-winning system for teaching and learning mathematics for young children. It is ‘influenced, inspired and informed by the work of leading maths researchers and practitioners across the world…’. It is an inclusive and positive maths scheme of learning that nourishes real growth by helping children ask lots of questions, take risks and be unafraid of failure. It is a mastery scheme designed to spark curiosity and nurture confidence in maths. Teachers adapt and innovate these lessons to ensure the needs of all the children are met.

Coherence

White Rose Maths lessons are broken down into small connected steps that gradually unfolds a concept. It interweaves prior content with new concepts and the sequenced materials plan for progression and allow the children to make good progress. A Concrete- Pictorial- Abstract approach used to deepen understanding which enables the children to develop the ability to apply the concept to a range of contexts.

Mathematical Thinking

Children remember what they think about, so lessons are planned so that children are given the opportunity to think about the right things.

Children are taught to:

  • Seek solutions (not just memorise procedure)
  • Explore patterns (not just memorise formulas)
  • Formulate conjectures (not just tedious computation)

This allows ideas to be understood deeply and, through mathematical talk, ideas are thought about, reasoned with and discussed with others.

Retrieval Practice

Across the school there is daily rehearsal of previously taught maths concepts in which builds on prior knowledge. This regular spaced retrieval maximises retention in the children’s long-term memory and reduces cognitive load so that children know more and remember more over time.

Fluency

We recognise that Fluency is a vital skill in the maths curriculum. In addition to their daily White Rose Maths lessons, times tables rehearsal and arithmetic lessons develop children’s fluency, speed and accuracy with number, multiplication and the corresponding division facts. Across all areas of maths, teachers rigorously promote of mental strategies and there is a clear progression of formal written methods within our curriculum. This ensures that we develop efficient mathematicians who can quickly recall number facts, have good number sense, can move between different contexts and representations of mathematics and can use numbers flexibly.

Enriching the maths experience

Whilst our maths curriculum is engaging, fun and rich, we intend to enrich the children’s maths experience with one maths-theme day in each term. These include: 

Maths Mufty Day

National Numeracy Day

Times Table Rock Stars Competition

Y6 Apprentice Fayre

 

Future

Impact

ASSESSMENT IN MATHS

Our Maths curriculum is assessed is a variety of different ways. To track and measure outcomes and progress, we use a variety of monitoring and assessment activities across the school. These include:

  • WRM end of unit assessments- completed at least two weeks after a unit of work has finished to assess the children’s understanding of a subject and inform teacher assessments, interventions and next steps. These are analysed and tracked.
  • Summative Assessment- Children complete two summative assessments across the year in the form of Testbase Assessments (Year 1,3,4 & 5) and past SATs papers in Year 2 and 6. Teachers conduct detailed analysis of these assessments to inform their planning and guide future interventions and we use it as a guide for reporting to parents.
  • EYFS Assessment- at the end of each term in our reception classes, the teacher assesses each child using an assessment linked to the NCETM counting principles.
  • Daily Arithmetic- Children in years 2-6 complete daily, progressive arithmetic tasks. Additionally, year 6 children complete weekly arithmetic tests. The scores are tracked, and interventions are led by these results.
  • Times Table Tests - Year 3 & 4 children complete weekly practice MTC tests on Times Table Rock Stars. This program is also used across the school to develop and rehearse times table knowledge.

OUTCOMES:

  • EYFS GLD 65% Number 73%
  • KS1 EXP+ 75% GDS 18%
  • KS2 EXP+ 79% GDS 24%