When teaching Numeracy, we follow White Rose Maths Mastery alongside the Mastering Number scheme devised by the NCETM (National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics).
After research and training we decided as a school that these schemes supported the key progression we needed in maths to ensure that knowledge is revisited, embedded and built upon. Mastering Maths means pupils acquire a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of the subject. The phrase 'teaching for mastery' describes the elements of classroom practice and school organisation that combine to give pupils the best chances of mastering maths. Maths is taught daily and pupils learn through whole-class interactive teaching, where the focus is on all pupils working together on the same lesson content at the same time. The teachers model the learning for the children and this is displayed to support them. We use a range of resources to support mathematical thinking and the children are encouraged to explain their reasoning. Our maths lessons are supplemented with key fluency work in number bonds, times tables and key basic skills work.
The national curriculum for mathematics aims to ensure that all pupils:
-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.
-reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language
-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.
Mathematics is an interconnected subject in which pupils need to be able to move fluently between representations of mathematical ideas. The programmes of study are, by necessity, organised into apparently distinct domains, but pupils should make rich connections across mathematical ideas to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competence in solving increasingly sophisticated problems. They should also apply their mathematical knowledge to science and other subjects.
The expectation is that the majority of pupils will move through the programmes of study at broadly the same pace. However, decisions about when to progress should always be based on the security of pupils’ understanding and their readiness to progress to the next stage. Pupils who grasp concepts rapidly should be challenged through being offered rich and sophisticated problems before any acceleration through new content. Those who are not sufficiently fluent with earlier material should consolidate their understanding, including through additional practice, before moving on.