Maths at Millbrook

Curriculum Intent:

Why do we teach this? Why do we teach it in the way we do?

At Millbrook we teach a rich, balanced and progressive maths curriculum using problem solving, reasoning and fluency to underpin conceptual understanding in each topic area. We want all pupils to experience the enjoyment of mathematics and develop a sense of curiosity about the subject, while building a clear understanding. We foster a positive ‘can do’ attitude and we promote the fact that, ‘we can all do maths!’ We believe all children can achieve in mathematics and that there is no ceiling to learning. We teach for secure and deep understanding of mathematical concepts through progressive tasks, of bronze, silver, gold and platinum challenges. Mistakes and misconceptions are considered an essential part of learning and teachers help children to view them and explore them where needed. Throughout maths teaching a concrete, pictorial, abstract approach provides children with a clear structure in which they can develop their depth of understanding of mathematical concepts. We believe that all children should be given the opportunity to be challenged and explore their mathematics more deeply and this is evident through open ended investigations and through ‘now try’ and ‘killer questions’ at the end of lesson. All children, no matter their current attainment, will receive extra challenges.

Curriculum Implementation:

What do we teach? What does this look like?

Our whole curriculum is shaped by our school vision which aims to enable all children to develop their individual talents, realise their potential and aspire to become the very best they can be, regardless of background and ability. We continually strive to build upon the excellent understanding of the expectations of the curriculum that our staff have. We achieve this through quality CPD which is provided through the subject leader and shadow subject leader, external courses and support from a teaching and learning consultant for mathematics. All staff are encouraged to raise questions, seek support and request further training if needed in order to ensure everyone is confident in what they teach.

We follow the National Curriculum and curriculum maps are based on the White Rose yearly overviews which set the curriculum content out in blocks enabling children to get to grips with different areas of maths through extended periods of time. Alongside this, we have a wide variety of self-created scaffolds and resources as well as resources from NCETM, N-Rich, Third Space Learning and Times Table Rockstars. These resources are used throughout Years 1-6. Our nursery and reception classes use some ideas and resources shared by NCETM early years and White Rose to inform planning and provision.

Curriculum Impact:

What will this look like?

By the end of KS2, we aim for children to be fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics with a conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately. All children should have the skills and the resilience to solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of situations with increasing sophistication, including in unfamiliar contexts and to model real-life scenarios. Children will be able to reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry and develop and present a justification, argument or proof using mathematical language.

At Millbrook children have a positive view of maths due to learning in an environment where maths is promoted as being an exciting and enjoyable subject in which they can investigate and ask questions. Children are confident to ‘have a go’ and choose the equipment they need to help them to learn along with the strategies they think are best suited to each problem. Children display a ‘can do’ attitude and behaviour to maths and every effort is made by the children to grow their resilience and perseverance when they find learning difficult at first. Our maths books evidence a high standard of mathematics and demonstrate and broad and balanced coverage of fluency, reasoning and problem solving. Children at Millbrook know the importance of maths in the real world and opportunities are built into the year to ensure that children can focus on developing extended knowledge of real-life maths, for example, in maths projects such as ‘Protect our world’ and ‘Around the world in 80 days’.

Maths Content

Please open the relevant year group link to see an overview of the curriculum maps for each year group.

EYFS Maths Overview 2021-2022

Educational Programme

Developing a strong grounding in number is essential so that all children develop the necessary building blocks to excel mathematically. Children should be able to count confidently, develop a deep understanding of the numbers to 10, the relationships between them and the patterns within those numbers. By providing frequent and varied opportunities to build and apply this understanding - such as using manipulatives, including small pebbles and tens frames for organising counting - children will develop a secure base of knowledge and vocabulary from which mastery of mathematics is built. In addition, it is important that the curriculum includes rich opportunities for children to develop their spatial reasoning skills across all areas of mathematics including shape, space and measures. It is important that children develop positive attitudes and interests in mathematics, look for patterns and relationships, spot connections, ‘have a go’, talk to adults and peers about what they notice and not be afraid to make mistakes.

Early Learning Goal

Number

Children at the expected level of development will:

• Have a deep understanding of number to 10, including the composition of each number;
• Subitise (recognise quantities without counting) up to 5;
• Automatically recall (without reference to rhymes, counting or other aids) number bonds up to 5 (including subtraction facts) and some number bonds to 10, including double facts.

Numerical Patterns

Children at the expected level of development will:

• Verbally count beyond 20, recognising the pattern of the counting system;
• Compare quantities up to 10 in different contexts, recognising when one quantity is greater than, less than or the same as the other quantity;
• Explore and represent patterns within numbers up to 10, including evens and odds, double facts and how quantities can be distributed equally.

Click here to read our Maths Calculation Policy. 

Click below to find out about our Maths Mascots. These help us learn which type of maths to use.

Click here to view additional maths policies.