Philosophy for Teaching Maths

Mastery in Maths:

At WJS we deliver a Mastery Curriculum. For each child, we strive to teach in a way that develops a deep understanding of every part of the maths curriculum. Teaching accurately, concisely and consistently across year groups increases the retention of learning and makes it easier to build on.

The Foundation and Structure:

At WJS the structure of how we teach maths is underpinned by NCTEM’s Curriculum Prioritisation model (CP) and ‘teaching for mastery’ pedagogy. This, in conjunction with our Blueprint for Learning, creates a clear, intentional curriculum.

Each year group’s maths curriculum (available on request) is built around the CP key concepts, the national curriculum objectives and the CP mastery with depth concepts. As such, the curriculum is not only a “what to be taught when” document, but also an effective tool in assessing where a child is in their learning

The curriculum is taught through seven strands: number and place value, number facts, addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, fractions, geometry and other. These are then broken down into units.  For each unit there are a list of learning outcomes or success criteria that the teachers use to inform their planning and teaching. Teachers are encouraged to use their professional judgement and experience, using a variety of teaching styles and questioning.

At the start of each lesson children complete a daily fluency that follows the Blueprint for Learning. They complete Recall, Reuse, Revisit and Retain questions that check the children’s learning from last lesson, last week, last term and last year. The teacher will then take time to address any misconceptions that arise (with follow up teaching if necessary). Following our Blueprint for learning, the next part of the lesson is an implicit combination of “I do, We do, You do” activities.

Teachers introduce new subject specific vocabulary, modelling how to use this appropriately. Teachers use a mixture of concrete, pictorial and abstract (CPA) inputs to develop the pupils’ understanding.

Children then complete independent tasks including a mix of fluency, reasoning and problem-solving questions. Throughout the session, teachers regular check in with the pupils, work with small groups and continuously perform formative assessments to gauge the learning. The aim is that all children master the concept, whilst some may master it with greater depth.

Displays: In each classroom there is a working wall that supports the pupils’ learning.

Manipulatives: Manipulatives (concrete resources) are used for pupils to see the structure rather than to do the Maths. They are often used before or alongside pictorial resources, as a child is developing their understanding of a concept. Teachers will always model how to use these effectively.

Text books and online resources: Teachers use their experience and expertise to choose resources from a wide range of places, whether physical textbooks or online resources, to plan and teach the curriculum in the most efficient and accurate way.

Assessment: Assessment is formative, varied and on-going to ensure that understanding of concepts and progress is being made. Summative assessment is used at the end of the year. In Year 6, we use QLA to prepare children are for SATs.