Maths
NSPCC Number Day - Thank you to everyone who took the time to make a costume!
‘Pure Mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.’
Albert Einstein.
At Avenue, we believe it is important to develop basic mathematical skills, concepts, attitudes and knowledge appropriate to each child’s development.
The National Curriculum emphasises mastery in mathematics. This means that maths is taught at a greater depth, with the learning being extended using problem solving and reasoning. In class, children are being asked to explain their thinking and use a wider range of mathematical vocabulary to do this.
As a result, the children are given the opportunity to explore maths using concrete resources, before being guided in how to use this knowledge in a pictorial and abstract way. Using this approach, children develop skills in mental and written calculations as well as being able to explain why, rather than just how. This skill is then further developed in problem solving or reasoning tasks where the concrete, pictorial and abstract link together. The aim of this approach is that the children at Avenue become able to manipulate numbers and use the skills learnt in different contexts.
By providing purposeful and varied opportunities for children to develop their mathematical skills, we hope to encourage positive attitudes and the enjoyment of maths. By using real-life contexts as much as possible, we hope to help pupils understand the need for maths and how, by learning the skills now, it will be useful to them throughout their life.
Children have daily maths lessons and where possible their learning is reinforced in other areas of the curriculum.
Yearly Overview
Whilst we aim to follow this yearly overview, there is flexibility to reorder the blocks if needed, to make a better use of time or to address a gap or misconception.
Avenue Calculation Policies
These policies are draft, working documents. Whilst not perfect and will be updated soon, they give an idea of the school's approach to the different stages of the four basic operations used in maths.
White Rose Calculation Policies
Our maths teaching is heavily influenced by the White Rose Maths Hub. Their own calculation policies go into detail about the different representations we use and their benefits.
Maths Home Learning
Throughout the school, maths home learning will be set once a week. We use a range of platforms to do this, with the links being found on our
home learning platform Seesaw and then using MyMaths, Numbots or Timestables Rockstars.
All of these apps or websites are designed to support the children's learning in school, with either revision, repetition or prior learning.
However, maths learning in the context of day-to-day life is a good way of allowing children to see how maths is used in the real world. Every day tasks that can be used to reinforce maths learning are:
- Counting - finding a certain number of everyday objects reinforces understanding of number
- Shopping - ask your child to add up how much you are spending as you shop. Depending on your child, you might want to give them a pen and paper to make jottings or round the numbers to the nearest pound or ten pence
- Baking or Cooking - Measuring out ingredients is a good way to understand measures. Cooking often uses a lot of mathematical language for example: half and quarter