Mathematics is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment.

At Purley Church of England Primary School, we use a maths mastery approach to teaching mathematics. The key ideas behind this are:

• Every child can succeed at maths (including SEND children).

• This is best achieved by working together on learning one small step at a time, supporting and challenging children as necessary during lessons.

• Carefully structured activities developing maths topics over long units will maximise all children’s learning of key maths concepts.

• Concrete experience of mathematical concepts through hands-on work and real-life examples of maths problem-solving is the basis for deep understanding.

• This is known as the CPA approach – concrete, pictorial, abstract. Understanding developed through concrete experience can be represented in pictures and diagrams, and finally in abstract maths symbols (Example: First, Sam had two kittens. Then he got one more. How many kittens does he have now? This problem might be posed with soft toys, then pictures of kittens used, then simple marks on paper to represent each one, and finally the abstract symbols 2 + 1 = 3).

• A variety of representations of maths ideas is essential to a developing a deep understanding which can be confidently and successfully applied in many contexts – the definition of maths mastery.

Although our children are in mixed year group classes, we separate year groups for 4 out of the 5 weekly sessions. This means that from Year 1 to Year 6, our pupils are taught by qualified teachers in cohorts of no more than 15 pupils for the majority of their Maths lessons.

To help achieve coherence of learning from year to year, teachers’ planning is guided by the White Rose maths scheme. This ensures small steps across one year match and develop those of the previous and successive years. It also helps to ensure a wide variety of representations which build on each other year by year.  Further information can be found here https://whiterosemaths.com/advice-and-guidance

In addition to this, children are given time within and outside maths lessons to learn vital number facts - addition and subtraction / multiplication and division (see KIRFS information below) Automatic recall of these facts is seen by us as a crucial step to children being able to solve sophisticated maths problems; when they do not have to think about a times table fact or the difference between two digits, they can devote more of their brain power to reasoning about the problem and solve it more reliably. Children should know all their times tables by the end of Year 4.

All state-funded maintained schools and academies (including free schools) in England administer an online multiplication tables check (MTC) to year 4 pupils.

For further information, please click on the link below: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/multiplication-tables-check-development-process

Curriculum Content

Each year group covers several National Curriculum objectives in each strand of Maths over the course of the school year. ​

EYFS Maths

There are two Early Learning Goals for maths. This is what most children in Reception are expected to be able to do by the end of their first year at school.

Number: Children count reliably with numbers from one 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.

Shape, Space and Measure: 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.

For information on the National Curriculum Programmes of Study for Mathematics for KS1 and KS2, please click on the link below.

National Curriculum programmes of study for KS1 and KS2

Please see our Calculation Policy below for the calculation techniques we teach here at Purley.

 

Resources to support your child:

Key Instant Recall Facts (KIRFS)

Every term, children receive new targets to consolidate their mathematical skills. You can find a copy of all KIRF targets here 

Conker Maths has some great activities to support your child in learning their KIRFs.

 

Times Tables Rockstars is an excellent resource to support the learning of times tables. Children earn points for themselves and for their rock bands.  They can compete against their own personal best and against each other.  

 

How to access Times Tables Rockstars from home

• Go to https://play.ttrockstars.com/
• Click on School, then click on Student, for school name, enter Purley CE Primary School

Children's logins are available from your child's teacher