Maths

At the Bassingbourn Community Primary School, we understand that a deep grasp of mathematics is essential to enabling greater social equity and mobility. To achieve this, our curriculum prepares children to be confident mathematicians with a deep conceptual understanding of the skills required to problem solve across varied academic disciplines. 

We want our pupils to understand the skills and knowledge to be successful throughout their school life and into the future. Through carefully designed lessons, our teachers are able to make meaningful connections between content with a high emphasis placed on enquiry. As a result of this, our pupils are encouraged to think critically to find solutions, helping them to secure mastery.

We do this by ensuring...

• Our maths Curriculum will develop secure building blocks for the development of mathematical understanding, reasoning and problem solving.

 • Children will develop skills in fluency, mathematical reasoning and problem solving, through well taught progressive steps.

 • As part of their maths journey children will build on their previous learning, both within and between year groups.

• Progression documents following the White Rose Scheme of learning will underpin planning.

 • Children will follow a concrete/ pictorial/ abstract approach in their learning.

 • They will develop skills of resilience and determination in their work.

• All children will have positive attitudes towards maths, they will be engaged and motivated to be able to achieve their true potential.

Mathematics at Bassingbourn Community Primary School is planned and sequenced using White Rose Maths. This ensures careful cumulative coverage. Each school year begins with a focus on the concepts and skills that have the most connections, and these concepts are then applied and connected throughout the school year to consolidate learning; this gives all pupils the opportunity to master their maths skills. We begin building these skills from the EYFS, where interactions are carefully planned to elicit verbal responses. 

We continue to implement by ensuring...

• Children will be taught in line with the National Curriculum objectives for their year group.

• Using the mastery approach children will learn how to tackle mathematical questions in a series of different way and representations.

• Children will take part in daily maths lessons.

• They will be taught broadly in line with the sequenced blocks of teaching specified in the White Rose Maths Hub schemes of work.

• Lesson starters will allow children to revisit, consolidate and extend learning in a range of mathematical topics.

• Well targeted questioning will assess understanding and challenge mathematical thinking.

• Formative and summative assessment will enable the next steps of learning to be planned for.

 • Links with other curriculum areas will be made as appropriate- including date handling in science and representing data using computer programmes.

• Class display, working walls, connections models and targeted resources will support and enrich learning.

 • Quality First teaching will enable all pupils to make progress.

• If appropriate evidence based interventions and small group/ 1:1 support will be used in addition to QFT to enable all pupil groups to develop confidence and progress.

• QFT will be enhanced through appropriate CPD and training, along with subject monitoring and supportive subject leadership.

It is imperative that children have a secure understanding of each mathematical concept before moving on. At Bassingbourn Community Primary School, we know that the children have mastered the content in each unit because teachers use assessment to identify and address misconceptions as and when they arise. 

Children are tested on the content they have been taught after each block and teachers use this data to address misconceptions and reteach concepts where necessary. These lessons are designed to give teachers the opportunity to deliver the content with a different approach, to enable the children to secure their subject knowledge. 

Teachers and teaching assistants deliver targeted maths interventions based on in class assessments to consolidate children’s understanding before they move on. We also use the summative NFER tests as an indicator of the pupils’ overall progress in mathematics.

In addition...

• Most children will achieve end of year expectations for their year group

• Children will have a positive and engaged attitude towards maths.

• They will be ready to progress to the next stage of their maths learning.

• Children will be confident in applying their maths skills in a range of familiar and unfamiliar context.

• They will be resilient in their work with a “can do” attitude and will talk enthusiastically about their maths learning.

• Children will have made connections within their maths learning, but also with how their learning relates to the real world.

White Rose Maths is an organisation that provides maths resources and Schemes of Learning for pupils of all ages, from early years to secondary school. The Schemes of Learning (SOL) outline yearly frameworks that break down what children need to learn during each week of each 

term to master the learning objectives laid out by the National Curriculum.  White Rose Maths frameworks are designed to be enjoyable, engaging and varied, to help pupils develop a love of learning and work towards mastery with differentiated resources.

But what defines White Rose Maths more than their resources and frameworks is their approach to teaching maths. At the heart of their resources and frameworks is the motto “Everyone Can Do Maths: Everyone Can!” — a slogan that we wholeheartedly agree with!

White Rose teaches children mathematical concepts through pictorial, practical and written methods in order to develop a deep understanding, confidence and competence in Maths and improve fluency. Fluency in Maths is about developing number sense and being able to choose and use the most appropriate method for the task at hand and be able to apply a skill to multiple contexts. 

It uses the CPA (Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract) approach, which is a highly effective approach to teaching that develops a deep and sustainable understanding of maths in pupils. CPA was developed by American psychologist Jerome Bruner. It is an essential technique within the Singapore method of teaching maths for mastery.