Welcome to our Maths Section 

Our Ethos

At Winterslow our Mathematics curriculum is planned and taught in line with the 2014 National Curriculum. As a school we aim to ensure that all pupils become fluent mathematicians who are able to learn and understand the What, How and Why of Mathematics.

The success of our curriculum is seen in our pupils’ ability to discuss and reason mathematically and apply their knowledge and skills to problem solving and investigative tasks.

We want every child to be successful and encourage children to develop an “I can do Maths” attitude.

We are dedicated to ensuring Continued Professional Development of our Staff at Winterslow to ensure we provide the most effective Teaching and Learning for our pupils.  

Miss McDermott is our Maths Subject Leader. Miss McDermott is responsible for driving substantial and sustainable changes in the teaching of Maths at Winterslow.  

Our Curriculum Intent

At Winterslow we have embedded a whole school approach to planning, teaching and learning for Mastery.

As a school we use the White Rose Maths scheme of learning as a guide for small steps in learning. We ensure only high quality resources are used to support learning and these are selected from the NCETM resources, White Rose Scheme of Learning and ‘I see Reasoning’ documents.

As a school we felt it was important that progression in learning at Winterslow reflected the strengths and experience of our Staff. We have designed our own Long Term Overviews for every year group to ensure suitable progression and coverage.

Coverage and Lesson Design

Medium Term Unit Planning outlines the progression for each block being taught. Our unit planning allows Staff to identify objectives which may take longer to fully embed, misconceptions that may arise and where appropriate Greater Depth tasks which will be included to deepen learning.

Lessons across the school follow an agreed coherent structure and include:

Rapid Recall- An opportunity for children to develop their fluency of Key Instant Recall Facts

Wizard Warm Up- Daily arithmetic sessions to revisit and consolidate learning to ensure skills stay fresh

Guided Practice- A scaffolded session where learning is active and engaging. Children have the opportunity to use carefully selected concrete objects, followed by pictorial representations before moving to abstract tasks (using the CPA approach). Learning during guided practice makes connections between what children already know and new learning.

Brain Break- This is an opportunity for children to ‘take five’. During this time Staff can check current attainment of learners and select children who may need additional guidance during the next section of the lesson.

Independent Practice- During this stage children are given further tasks to apply, challenge and embed new learning and where appropriate support work is given to enable all children to succeed at their learning.

Star Challenge- Allows opportunities for children to develop further problem solving and reasoning skills through application of knowledge and skills to other contexts or ‘real life’ examples.

Brain Buster (Greater Depth)- These challenges are available to the majority of learners and consist of tasks or problems which extend learning through questioning, deep analysis and exploration to broaden their knowledge.

Our lessons are planned to ensure children are taken on a 'journey through the learning' revisiting objectives previously taught in order to carefully scaffold new learning. 

Supporting all Learners

At Winterslow, careful design of lessons ensures that all pupils’ are actively involved in making links between previous and new learning. Staff look positively on learners’ potential and avoid putting a ‘ceiling’ on any child’s access to learning.

Throughout lessons Staff closely monitor learners' progress. During the 'Brain Break" section of a lesson Staff assess tasks completed during the Guided Practice and are able to pinpoint teacher support required for learners. During Independent Practice tasks enable secure learners to continue working independently and progress their learning to Reasoning, Problem Solving and Greater Depth tasks. Those who have been identified as requiring more support are able to work in small supported groups with the teacher during this time.

Pre-teaching

Pre-teaching has proved highly successful for learners across our school. The excellent knowledge Staff have of our pupils’ and their learning needs means support can be given to pupils’ before a lesson (focusing on making links, introducing new learning and addressing misconceptions) in order to build confidence and self-esteem. The impact of this is that our pupils’ feel more confident in lesson and are better equipped to achieve.

Catch Up Keep Up Sessions

At the end of every unit pupils’ complete a short end of unit test. Staff conduct diagnostic analysis of the results and plan in ‘Catch up Keep up’ sessions for learners. For secure learners these sessions allow time to participate in investigative, open-ended challenges which build and extend on the unit of learning. For those learners who have not wholly grasped all learning from the unit carefully planned ‘catch up’ sessions led by the teacher ensure that misconceptions and errors in learning and revisited before all children move on to the next unit of learning.

Monitoring Progress of Learners

We have regular meetings about the progress of pupils at Winterslow. Staff liaise with the Maths Subject Leader and Inclusion Manager to ensure additional support is given to target gaps in learning and ensure learning is making progress.

Key Instant Recall Facts (KIRFs)

At Winterslow we aim to ensure that children leave our school with a proficient level of fluency in fundamental mathematical facts.

Key Instant Recall Facts are designed to support the development of the mental skills that underpin much of the mathematics work in school. They are particularly useful when calculating, be it adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing.

Secure knowledge of these facts frees up areas of the brain for more complex problem solving and reasoning. 

At Winterslow we have ensured a progressive approach to acquiring a secure knowledge of fluency facts from Reception to Year 6. Every year group focuses on a Key Instant Recall Fact each term and this is explored during the Rapid Recall section of every lesson.

Times Table Facts

With the introduction of the times table check Year 2 to Year 5 support learners to ensure fluency of all times tables facts by the end of Year 5 (these are also incorporated into our KIRFs).

A progression document for these year groups has been designed to ensure daily, short practice sessions become a fundamental part of each classes’ daily timetable. Children complete two timed sessions of daily practice and Staff use scores to track progress and identify areas for support in learning.

As a school we subscribe annually to the Professor Assessor learning platform to support Maths development both at home and in school. Children can access times tables activities through the platform, earn badges and improve their times tables knowledge. 

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