Mathematics

Mathematics

Mathematics Curriculum Intent
Maths at Shebbear Community School is a journey that begins with the building blocks of number and ends with fluent, confident learners who are excited by the knowledge and understanding of how Maths underpins the world around us.

Mathematical and numeracy skills are embedded across the curriculum, providing opportunities to strengthen core skills. We provide opportunities across the curriculum for maths skills to be applied and enhanced through reasoning and problem solving approaches to everyday experiences.

Our goal is to support the development of a risk-taking and supportive culture among our pupils, where Maths is viewed as a positive challenge to be embraced by pupils, parents and the wider community. We aim to enable confident Maths learners, who are able to manipulate numbers and who have a love for the challenge of a challenge!

Statement of Mastery:
At Shebbear we believe every child has the potential to master their understanding of maths, and we provide opportunities for every pupil to move forward in this understanding, and apply it to different areas of learning and to real-life experiences.

Mastery means having a secure understanding of mathematical concepts and processes, combined with a genuine procedural fluency. A child who has mastered a particular skill is able to apply their understanding and solve different types of problem, including where the skill is either embedded in a different context, or where a choice of method has to be made. For example, a child who has mastered adding two 2-digit numbers should be able to identify where this is required, even when it is not presented in a straightforward way (e.g. ⬜ – 23 = 39) and also choose an efficient strategy for doing it (e.g. 40 + 22).
Some children will be able to achieve mastery with greater depth. This means that they are able to apply their understanding of a concept in a wider variety of contexts, some of which are more difficult. They can manipulate the facts they know and the skills they possess in order to solve more complex problems. More developed forms of mathematical reasoning are central to this process, and enable the recognition of a link between operations and processes. For example, a child who has mastered the addition of 2-digit numbers in greater depth will be able to explain why it is possible to add two numbers both with units digits greater than 5 and get answers with units digits less than 5 (e.g. 16 + 7 = 23). They may also understand why adding a number to its matching reverse (46 and 64) will always give a multiple of eleven.

Common features of mastery include:
* An expectation that all children can succeed in maths, often achieved by keeping the year group together
* Giving children a secure and sustainable understanding of mathematical concepts by developing consistent models and images throughout
* Ensuring children are fluent in mathematical procedures and number facts by rehearsing these in systematic ways
* Children who master a concept easily are expected to deepen their understanding, for example by applying it to solve problems embedded in mathematical investigations or more complex contexts
* Children who do not master an objective with the rest of the class should be supported to enable them to gain more experience and achieve mastery, for example through same-day intervention, plus longer-term help if necessary.

While we subscribe to these principles of mastery, we do not put a ceiling on learning and we teach every child as an individual within the class. In some cases therefore we approach the teaching of mastery as deepening knowledge through moving further along the curriculum in order for them to better develop a secure and flexible understanding of the core knowledge (for example, in developing a mastery of place value we might use larger numbers beyond those normally ascribed to be taught in that year group). This is approached with a teacher’s expertise and experience of forward planning for future maths learning and does not reduce the greater depth understanding by merely ‘moving on’ through the curriculum. Lessons are carefully planned and sequenced and greater depth and mastery opportunities are built in through careful attention to the curriculum objectives and to individual learners within each clas

Mathematics.Year 1 2 Curriculum Yearly.Overview

Mathematics.Year 3 4 Curriculum.Yearly Overview

Mathematics.Year 5 6 Curriculum.Yearly Overview