Programmes of Study for Keystage One Maths available here National Curriculum for Maths

Howe Park Mathematics Policy

INTRODUCTION 

At Howe Park First School we believe that mathematics is a tool for everyday life. It is a whole network of concepts and relationships which provide a way of viewing and making sense of the world. It is used to analyse and communicate information and ideas and to tackle a range of practical tasks and real life problems

It is our aim to develop:

• a positive attitude towards mathematics and an awareness of the fascination of mathematics
• competence and confidence in mathematical knowledge, concepts and skills
• an ability to solve problems, to reason, to think logically and to work systematically and accurately.
• initiative and an ability to work both independently and in cooperation with others
• an ability to communicate mathematics
• an ability to use and apply mathematics across the curriculum and in real life situations
• an understanding of mathematics through a process of enquiry and experiment

TEACHING AND LEARNING

Through careful planning and preparation we aim to ensure that throughout the school children are given opportunities for:

• practical activities and mathematical games
• problem solving
• individual, group and whole class discussions and activities
• open and closed tasks
• a range of methods of calculating eg. mental, pencil and paper and using a wide range of mathematical equipment (including Numicon)
• working with computers as a mathematical tool

Our staff have high expectations of all children, irrespective of ability, and encourage them to be successful and achieve their full potential.

Teaching Assistants are used to support individuals or groups, both within the class and for additional support outside the maths lesson for intervention strategies.

CROSS-CURRICULAR LINKS

Throughout the whole curriculum opportunities exist to extend and promote mathematics. Teachers seek to take advantage of all these opportunities within our new topic based curriculum.

TEACHERS’ PLANNING AND ORGANISATION

The approach to the teaching of mathematics within the school is based on:

• a mathematics lesson five days of the week (1 hour for Key stage 1 and 20 minutes for Foundation).

 a clear focus on direct, instructional teaching and interactive oral work with both the whole class and smaller ability groups.

Each class teacher organises a daily lesson for mathematics of an age appropriate length.  Lessons are planned using the Unit block Medium Term plan for year 2, and an updated Medium Term Plan for year 1 following the aims and content of the new National Curriculum for 2014. This planning enables teachers to plan for mixed age classes with clarity.

Teachers of the Foundation children, base their teaching on objectives in the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum, ensuring that they are working towards the ‘Early Learning Goals for Mathematical Development’. 

A ‘Progression through Calculation’ programme is used throughout the school to ensure the continuing, and gradual, development of number skills. (see appendix 1)

DIFFERENTIATION

This should be incorporated into all mathematics lessons and can be done in various ways:

• Stepped Activities which can be accessed at different steps, supporting and challenging all.

• Common Tasks which are open ended activities/investigations where differentiation is by outcome.

• Resourcing which provides a variety of resources depending on abilities eg. counters, cubes, Numicon plates, 100 squares, number lines, mirrors.

• Grouping according to ability so that the groups can be given different tasks when appropriate. Activities are based on the same theme and usually at no more than three levels.

Currently in Key stage 1 the children are being taught in sets according to ability, and there are 3 sets per year group, allowing every child to be taught in smaller, focussed classes.

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AND DISABILITIES

Children with SEND are normally taught within the daily mathematics lesson (please see the section on differentiation). When additional support staff are available to support groups or individual children they may withdraw small groups to use intervention materials.  Teachers will work in partnership with the inclusion manager to plan individual lessons for children with individual SEND that require personalised learning sessions to accommodate their needs.

Within the daily mathematics lesson teachers not only provide activities to support children who find mathematics difficult, but also activities that provide appropriate challenges for children who are high achievers in mathematics.

All lesson plans should include:

• Objectives linked to the national curriculum
• A clear success criteria shared with the children
• Excellence steps to achieve this
• Short session to develop mental skills
• Differentiated activities
• Variety of practical and written activities
• Challenge for more able pupils
• Clear progression of skills
• Plenary session to reinforce learning objective

These plans will also be amended as the week progresses to take into account the speed of progress and/or difficulties that the children encounter.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

All children should have equal access to the curriculum, irrespective of particular circumstances such as race, background, language needs, gender and capability. In the daily mathematics lesson we support children in a variety of ways.

1. repeating instructions, speaking clearly, emphasising key words, using picture cues, playing mathematical games, encouraging children to join in counting, chanting, finger games, rhymes etc. ……

PUPILS’ RECORDS OF THEIR WORK

Children are encouraged to record the methods for their calculations clearly, and as their mathematical skills increase concisely.  It is also important to record aspects of mathematical investigations in a logical and systematic way.  Children are taught a variety of methods for recording their work and they are encouraged and helped to use the most appropriate and convenient method of recording.

Exercise Books for Recording

It is school policy that the following pattern is used:

• Year 1: 1 cm squared exercise books
• Year 2: 1 cm squares gradual move to 7 mm squares when individual children are ready

All children are encouraged to work neatly when recording their work.  When using squares, one square should be used for each digit.  All work should be dated and include a title (this may be written by the child or the teacher depending on ability)

Significant pieces of Foundation children’s written work will be placed in their learning journey book, together with photographs of their maths work, observations and mathematical assessments.

MARKING

The quality of marking is crucial we believe that marking should provide constructive feedback to every child, focusing on success and improvement needs against learning objectives; enabling the children to become reflective learners and helping them to close the gap between current and desired performance.  A simple green highlight is of little assistance to a child unless accompanied by an indication of where the error occurred, together with an explanation of what went wrong, through next steps and questioning that results in a child led understanding of any misconceptions in the work.  Feedback in Foundation is given immediately orally by either a teacher or a teaching assistant.

Marking should be both diagnostic and summative and the school policy believes that it is best done through conversation with the child but acknowledges that constraints of time do not always allow this.  Children will be given time regularly to improve their work and respond to teacher’s comments or oral feedback provided.  The marking will:

• show that we value the children's work and through praise encourage them to value it too

• provide feedback to children on performance, supporting their progressive development (oral and written)

• provide an assessment record using excellence stickers to show how the learning objectives have been met.

• empower the children to take control of their learning journey.

• provide children with next steps/targets for improvement;

• address misconceptions

ASSESSMENT AND RECORD KEEPING

Teachers use weekly APP capture tasks to assess the children’s understanding of different mathematical areas.  These assessed independent tasks, combined with a scrutiny of children’s recorded work over the previous weeks, allows the teacher to assess their level of understanding and identify any remaining misconceptions.

Teachers level all KS 1 pupils towards the end of each Term using the capture task assessments. The results of formal assessments are recorded on electronic class assessment trackers and the progress of children is monitored closely. In addition Year 2 children will complete an end of year SATs paper, and this level together with the detailed teacher assessment throughout the year will provide a final level.

REPORTING TO PARENTS

Parents are given the opportunity to discuss their child’s progress on three official occasions but understand that the schools’ ‘open door’ policy enables them to address concerns throughout the year.  Reports are completed before the end of the spring term.

Teachers use the information gathered from their assessments to help them comment on individual children’s progress.  Children in Foundation will be provided with a completed profile assessment in the summer term showing their progress against the Early Years Foundation Stage Outcomes.

• Parents are invited into school twice yearly to look at their children’s work.

• An open evening is held once a year to discuss the annual report.

• The maths subject leader is also available to discuss with parents how their child is taught and explains methods and answer any other curriculum based questions.

MONITORING AND EVALUATION

The mathematics subject leader is released regularly from her classroom in order to work alongside other teachers.  This time is used to monitor and evaluate the quality and standards of mathematics throughout the school and enables the coordinator to support teachers in their own classrooms.

Opportunities for teachers to discuss the teaching of maths, policy and resources are given on a regular basis during staff meetings.

PRACTICAL RESOURCES

Resources which are not used or required regularly are stored centrally and accessed by teachers at the beginning of a topic. Areas/displays within the classroom are then dedicated to the mathematics resources and are easily accessible to all children, allowing them to become familiar with the relevant equipment. 

WORKING WALL

Every classroom in the school displays a working wall for mathematics to show the progress of learning throughout the week/topic to support the children’s learning and reinforce teaching.  In addition, this is a useful information display for parents who often look at the boards and discuss the content with the class teacher so that they can further support their child’s learning at home.

HOMEWORK

It is our school policy to provide parents and carers with opportunities to work with their children at home.  These activities may only be brief, but are valuable in promoting children’s learning in mathematics.  The homework activities will include a minimum of 2 pieces of mathematical based work each half term for year 2.  In year 1 all parents will receive information about topic areas that their child can explore at home to further their learning, but this homework will follow a less formal approach.  In Foundation the suggestions for supported learning at home will be detailed in the ‘To do list’ and this is optional and completed at the parent’s discretion.

ROLE OF THE CO-ORDINATOR

• To take the lead in policy development
• To support colleagues.
• To monitor progress in Mathematics – eg leading staff CPD, scrutiny of work, analysis of formal assessment data.
• To take responsibility for the choice, purchase and organisation of central resources for Mathematics, in consultation with colleagues.
• To liaise with other members of staff to form a coherent and progressive scheme of work which ensures both experience of, and capability in, Mathematics.
• To be familiar with current thinking concerning the teaching of Mathematics, and to disseminate information to colleagues.
• The co-ordinator will be responsible to the Head teacher and will liaise with the named link Governors.

Sara Matthews

Maths Subject Leader

Policy agreed: Spring 2014

Policy review: Spring 2015