Mathematics

We have a whole school approach to the teaching of Mathematics which includes EYFS. At St Nicholas we aim to give all of our children the opportunity to develop their skills in the 3 aims of Mathematics – Fluency, Reasoning and Problem Solving.

We are teaching a mastery curriculum which means that children must have a wide range of activities to practice each skill and all abilities must have opportunities to reason and problem solve. We aim for children to be able to describe, explain, convince, justify and prove their answers. Mathematical vocabulary is an essential part of our teaching.

At St Nicholas, we achieved the ‘GOLD’ standard award the Liverpool Counts Quality Mark and aim to tackle negative attitudes towards numeracy and mathematics which are prevalent in many areas of our society. Our work towards achieving the mark challenged these views and promoted a culture where children understand the impact of good Maths skills. We encourage pupils to make real-life connections in their Maths lessons and have a whole school ethos that supports the importance of Maths in our everyday lives.

We aim for our Maths lessons to be challenging, enjoyable and to give children an appreciation of the wonder of Maths. We instil confidence in our children by providing them with the building blocks that they need before moving onto the next stage. A mathematical concept or skill has been mastered when a child can show it in multiple ways, using the mathematical language to explain their ideas, and can independently apply the concept to new problems in unfamiliar situations.

Planning: We follow the ARK Maths Mastery Scheme of work, which ensures complete coverage of the National Curriculum in a coherent structure with clear progression through the year groups. All teachers have a Progression Map which identifies the skills required for each strand of mathematics from Nursery to Year 6. This enables teachers to have a full understanding of the prior learning required to access each lesson; it also demonstrates what the children must be able to know and understand to fully access their next year group’s curriculum.

Teaching and Learning: To ensure that the children have a “deepening understanding of core mathematical concepts rather than moving them on too quickly to formal calculations and written algorithms” we follow a Concrete, Picture, Abstract method of teaching. All staff have been trained to use resources to support the children’s learning in the classroom and children are encouraged to become independent when selecting resources.

Every class has a Maths Area and a Working Wall where children can independently access resources and strategies that reflect their current topic. We also teach basic skills and times tables Rock Stars as part of our daily Maths lessons to ensure that our children have a strong skill set. As many of our children speak English as an additional language we teach vocabulary-rich lessons to ensure that they have the necessary language to understand and solve problems.

Support: We use interventions to support pupils who have been identified through teacher assessment as having gaps in mathematical understanding. Interventions are reviewed regularly to assess impact. Additional adults are used to support the learning. We focus on quality first teaching with LSAs used in class to support the class teacher. We also hold pre and post teach sessions in the afternoons for ‘quick fixes’. Some children with SEN or children who are at significant risk of delay are taken out for intervention. In school we use Success @ Arithmetic and 1st Class @ Number.

Assessment and Standardisation: Maths forms a significant part of the discussion at pupil progress meetings which are held 3 times a year. We use Teacher Assessment to track the children with support for our judgments from practice SATS and Rising Stars MARK tests. We moderate termly at both School Improvement Liverpool and Local Cluster group sessions. These sessions ensure that teachers are confident and secure in their judgements.

CPD: All classroom based staff have recently completed the National Numeracy Challenge which ensures that they all have the necessary Maths skills for adult life. This ensures that all staff exude confidence in numeracy and mathematics resulting in increased pupil confidence about numeracy and mathematics. Feedback from regular book scrutinies and lesson visits ensure that all staff are fully supported.

We receive regular support from School Improvement Liverpool which is personalised to the training needs of our school. We ensure that everyone is supported in their areas for development. The Maths Lead attends termly Subject Leader Briefings with School Improvement Liverpool and engages with Local Cluster Group training each year.

Liverpool Counts Quality Mark: As part of our continued efforts to build on the success of achieving the Gold Standard in the Liverpool Counts Quality Mark we have nominated 2 Maths ambassadors in each class. These children are responsible for promoting Maths in a positive way throughout the school. They help us to deliver the message that Maths is an important skill for life. We have spent this year making every effort to involve the wider school community in Maths. This involves parents playing TT Rock Stars, coming to talk to the children about Maths in their job and achieving the National Numeracy Award. We have also involved the governing body who have talked to the children about how they use Maths in their varied roles.

We provide the children with a strong financial education by holding workshops led by HMRC and NATWEST bank. The children learn about taxes, budgeting, how we use money and fraud.

Extra-Curricular: As part of our Extra-Curricular Maths activities we run board game, cookery and chess clubs so children can apply their skills in fun contexts. Some of these clubs are run by teachers or teaching assistants and some are run by children themselves.

• Impact is evident in our most recent KS2 progress measures.
• Children have quick recall of facts and procedures as well as the flexibility and fluidity to move between different contexts and representations of mathematics.
• Children have the ability to recognise relationships and make connections in mathematics
• Children understand that Maths is an important skill for life.
• Staff are confident in numeracy and Maths which results in increased pupil confidence.
• Book scrutinies and lesson visits demonstrate progression and confidence in Maths across the school.
• Pupil voice shows that children enjoy Maths lesson and enjoy a challenge. They feel that they are fully supported and know what to do when they need extra help.
• TT Rock Stars data demonstrates that the time taken for children to rapidly recall times table facts has improved year on year.