We view mathematics as a creative and highly interconnected subject essential to everyday life, science, technology and engineering, and necessary for most forms of employment.

​

At Oak Meadow, our aims are to ensure all our pupils:

​

• become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics;

• have the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately to a range of mathematical problems and situations;

• reason mathematically using appropriate mathematical language;

• solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication;

• are able to break down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevere in seeking solutions.

​

Our School Curriculum

​

The programmes of study for mathematics are set out weekly and teachers have flexibility to teach the objectives in an order which meets the needs of pupils following their formative assessment and pupils’ mastery of concepts.  Lessons reinforce skills, challenge pupils’ reasoning and develops their problem solving expertise. The lessons provide three stages of challenge to learning through an ‘All, Most and Some’ approach. The ‘All’ section allows the children to consolidate the skills they are learning whilst beginning to develop their reasoning skills. The ‘Most’ section offers opportunities to extend the skills and use more developed reasoning to justify and explain mathematical learning more deeply. The ‘Some’ section provides further reasoning and problem solving opportunities in which the children are required to apply their knowledge and skills through justifying and explaining their learning using appropriate mathematical language and terms.

​

Mathematics in Reception Class

 

‘Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their potential.’ (Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage)

​

Mathematics is one of the areas of learning and development set out in the statutory framework for the Early Years. ‘Mathematics involves providing children with opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems; and to describe shapes, spaces, and measures.’

At Oak Meadow, we have a firm belief in the acquisition of number skills which will enable children to use their deep learning in order to perform simple skill with numbers and to reason about numbers. They will be able to use their number skills to solve simple problems.

 

The statutory framework states:

​

‘Numbers: children count reliably with numbers from 1 to 20, place them in order and say which number is one more or one less than a given number. Using quantities and objects, they add and subtract two single-digit numbers and count on or back to find the answer. They solve problems, including doubling, halving and sharing.’ For this reason, we teach the children their numbers in stages, beginning with a focus on numbers to five. Children will understand the sequence of numbers, how to count up and down in steps of one, how to match them to their respective amounts, one more than and one less than, recognising an amount without counting to five quickly (known as subitising) Children will use a variety of apparatus to achieve this including everyday objects, counters, dice, cubes, number frames (ten frames) Numicon, pictures, and number tracks.

​

The framework continues:

​

‘Shape, space and measures: children use everyday language to talk about size, weight, capacity, position, distance, time and money to compare quantities and objects and to solve problems. They recognise, create and describe patterns. They explore characteristics of everyday objects and shapes and use mathematical language to describe them.’ Through a rich, varied enquiry approach with child initiated learning, children will explore everyday objects and contexts to support shape, space and measures and will be taught the language of these concepts.

​

Key Stage One

​

The principal focus of mathematics teaching in Key Stage 1 is to ensure that pupils develop confidence and mental fluency with whole numbers, counting and place value. This will involve working with numerals, words and the basic operations, including practical resources. By using concrete resources, the concepts of subitising and conservation of number are secured. The pupils’ understanding is extended through relating the ‘concrete’ stage to the ‘pictorial’ step. Through using pictures and visual representations, the pupils develop a deep understanding of number and mathematical concepts. Relating this to numbers and mathematical operations involves the ‘abstract’ stage in which the concrete (practical resources) along with the pictorial representations relates to the numbers we see in calculations.

​

Pupils will also develop their ability to recognise, describe, draw, compare and sort different shapes and use the related vocabulary. Teaching will involve the use of a range of measures to describe and compare different quantities such as length, mass, capacity/volume, time and money.  Pupils will also be able to read and spell mathematical vocabulary, at a level consistent with their increasing word reading and spelling knowledge at Key Stage 1 and will be able to transfer their skills to other curriculum subject learning opportunities.

 

Lower Key Stage Two (Years 3 and 4)

​

The principal focus of mathematics teaching in Years 3 and 4 is to ensure that our pupils become increasingly fluent with whole numbers and the four operations, including number facts and the concept of place value.  This will ensure they develop efficient written and mental methods and perform calculations accurately with increasingly large numbers. As with younger pupils, the teaching of mathematical concepts will use the concrete, pictorial and abstract approach.

​

In addition, our pupils will be encouraged to develop their ability to solve a range of problems, including simple fractions and decimal place value.  Teaching and learning will also ensure pupils can draw with increasing accuracy and develop mathematical reasoning so they can analyse shapes and their properties, and confidently describe the relationships between them. Pupils will use all of these skills and concepts through the ‘All, Most and Some’ approach to maths lessons. Pupils will be expected to apply their mathematical learning to other curriculum areas.

​

By the end of Year 4, we also aim for pupils to know their multiplication tables up to and including the 12 multiplication table and show prevision and fluency in their work. They will be expected to make use of their rapid recall of multiplication tables when undertaking the national MTC (Multiplication Tables Check)

​

Upper Key Stage Two (Years 5 and 6)

​

Within pupils’ final years at Oak Meadow, we aim to ensure they have extended their understanding of the number system and place value through the concrete, pictorial and abstract approach and are able to make connections between multiplication and division with fractions, decimals , percentages and ratio.   Pupils will also have developed their skills in solving a wider range of problems including increasingly complex properties of numbers and arithmetic, and problems requiring efficient written and mental methods of calculation.  Pupils will be required to reason using increasingly more accurate mathematical language and will demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways, including applying their concepts and skills to other curriculum subjects.

 

Pupils will also be introduced to the language of algebra as a means of solving a variety of problems and be able to classify shapes using the vocabulary to describe them.

 

By the end of Year 6, we aim for pupils to be fluent in written methods for all four operations including long multiplication and division.

 

For more information on the mathematics taught in each year group click the links below (opens as a pdf). You can also view our calculation policy to see how Mathematical concepts are taught from Early Years to Year 6.