Intent
At William Penn, we believe that Maths is a crucial life skill that everyone deserves to feel confident to use in their daily life. The maths curriculum enables children to know more, do more and remember more by sequencing progression through the school. We aim to embed fluency through a mastery approach and children are expected to reason in every maths lesson.
As of September, we will be moving away from Power Maths and will be following the White Rose Maths schemes of learning (WRM) which supports the children on their journey to maths mastery. Within the WRM schemes of learning, each area of learning is broken down into small steps which build sequentially and work towards achieving the National Curriculum statements. Our teachers use the learning challenges to teach for mastery – an approach used to secure basic skills and to extend and deepen the understanding of pupils within each year group.
We believe in a practical approach to teaching maths and follow a concrete, pictorial and abstract approach to support the children's learning. Children’s current knowledge is continually assessed and misconceptions are addressed, either within the lesson or at an alternative planned time.
We aim to equip the children with a range of mental and written strategies to be able to solve problems and reason effectively, while Key Stage 2 children are also given the opportunity to develop their arithmetic skills daily with our ‘Daily Arithmetic’ sessions.
Children are encouraged to be independent learners, selecting the correct challenge for them and the methods to solve the problems. All children are encouraged to use concrete resources to help them access the learning and this can be further scaffolded by an adult when required.
SEND
We encourage learners to talk through their ideas with a teacher or a peer. Therefore, we give regular discussion opportunities during lessons.
Here at William Penn, we support all children to access and thrive in every subject. In maths these supports may include –
- The use of pre-teaching to give some learners confidence before facing a new concept in a whole class setting.
- Defining each new use of mathematical vocabulary (displayed on the working wall).
- If solving word problems, use an adult or confident peer to read the questions aloud to relieve the pressure of decoding the language.
- Using concrete resources to support learning – following a CPA approach.
- Specific, targeted interventions for individuals or small groups.