Mathematics
At Allfarthing, we strongly believe that maths is accessible to all and that every child should leave school having mastered the concepts they have been exposed to. We feel it is important to nurture a love of maths so that we can develop confidence with the children and so that they continue to develop their skills as they move on from primary school. We place great emphasis on maths in the real world, and try to bring the subject to life in all of our lessons.
How We Teach Maths at Allfarthing
Our maths lessons will always follow the mastery approach, rooted in conceptual and procedural variation. The children will be exposed to a variety of different representations of number during a lesson, with concrete (a physical object), pictorial (pictures/diagrams) and abstract (higher-order questions) resources being used to support and scaffold a deep understanding. We expect children to progress in three mathematical areas – fluency, reasoning and problem solving. Oracy and partner work are used throughout our lessons so that children have many opportunities to discuss, explore and deepen their skills through targeted conversation. The children will then be given the chance to answer problem-solving questions allowing them to explore a variety of different answers whilst being able to relate what they are learning back to a real life example. To challenge the children even further, there is also greater depth challenge available, which is used to deepen their learning whilst often linking to other areas of the curriculum.
How We Enhance Opportunities for Success
Three times a week, the children engage in maths meetings. These are child-led, short, ten minute sessions, to continue to develop skills in areas that are covered less frequently in the National Curriculum. The children also have a Key Instant Recall Fact (KIRF) that they need to learn every half term, to develop their arithmetic fluency and confidence. Every year, we compete in the Wandsworth Maths Bee, and throughout the year we send groups of children to Maths competitions and workshops to enhance their learning experience.
Please click here for the 'Maths at Allfarthing' presentation given by Miss Donegan, Maths Lead, October 2020.
Please click on the links below for further information and NRich which is a useful problem solving website for maths at home.
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