Mathematics is a lifelong skill. It is a creative subject involving imagination, intuition and discovery. It is a way of solving problems and is a means of communicating information and ideas. At the Bedonwell Federation we present mathematics in a variety of different contexts in order to challenge and stimulate children’s thinking, reasoning & logic skills.
At Bedonwell we believe that Mathematics is a key skill and has an important part to play in our daily lives. It is essential that Mathematics teaching and learning is engaging, meaningful to the world in which we live, and accessible to all children in school helping to engender a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about Mathematics.
Intent
Develop fluency in pupils who are confident and able to apply their mathematical knowledge to a variety of problems.
Develop each pupil’s ability to reason and make connections in maths and the wider curriculum/world.
Foster a love of maths and an understanding of the importance of maths in everyday life.
Implementation
At the Bedonwell Federation, children are taught in an environment centred around a balanced mixed of independent work, partner/ group tasks and whole class teaching. Teachers work to support and guide their children through the following stages of development:
Talking mathematically using appropriate vocabulary and examples.
Developing the use of concrete, pictorial an abstract means of recording.
Using and applying flexible mental strategies to solve calculations.
Explain and justify their use of strategies or resources to solve problems and calculations.
In key stage 2 using an expanded method which leads into a standard written method for each of the four maths operations.
Understanding when to apply either written or mental methods when completing calculations.
To develop skills of reasoning and problem solving embedding these skills through regular opportunities.
White Rose and NCETM (‘National Centre of Excellence of Teaching Mathematics’) materials and resources are used to supplement our maths planning. We have carefully considered chronology in our planning that builds progressively on pupils’ knowledge and skills from Nursery to Year 6. We use the National Curriculum as a basis for our planning and personalise and extend it to suit our specific context.
becoming fluent in the fundamentals of Mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils have conceptual understanding and are able to recall and apply their knowledge rapidly and accurately to problems.
being able to reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language.
solving 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.’
Impact
By the end of each key stage, we aim for the children to be fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics with a conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately. They should have the skills to solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of situations both in unfamiliar and real-life contexts.
Please click the links below for ideas to help your child with their maths fluency:
