At Carr Mill Primary School, we are currently on a mastery journey to support a long-term, secure and adaptable approach to mathematics teaching, which supports learners to become resilient, working efficiently by making links between concepts and relationships.

Intent

We offer a rich and relevant mathematics curriculum that aims to teach children the mathematical skills they require for success in everyday life and develop their confidence and ability to apply these skills in practical situations. We aim for our curriculum to result in the aquisition of knowledge and skills for our children to know and remember more to prepare them for later life.

Implementation

Maths is taught through a daily maths lesson where lessons are based on the 5 principles of mastery. 

Coherence: lessons are broken down into small, connected steps that gradually unfold the concept, providing access for all children and leading to a generalisation of the concept and the ability to apply to a range of concepts.

Representations: they are used in lessons to expose the mathematical structure being taught, with the aim to be that pupils can do the maths without recourse to the representation.

Mathematical thinking: this encourages the pupils to think, reason and discuss ideas and strategies within their classroom environment.

Fluency: pupils become fluent mathematicians through quick and efficient recall of facts and procedures and the flexibility to move between different contexts and representations of mathematics.

Variation: this is built on over a sequence of lessons and represents concepts in more than one way.

We know that children need to develop quick recall of number facts, including multiplication tables, embedding them in their long term memory to enable them to solve progressively complex problems with confidence. For this reason, there is also an emphasis on the development of mental arithmetic, times tables and early number sense. Children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 follow the Mastering Numbering Programme and also access the online program Numbots to develop basic number skills. When ready, our pupils enjoy times tables practice through the TTRockstars online resource.

In the Foundation Stage, children follow the statutory Early Years Foundation Stage framework where they have opportunities to develop number, calculation and shape, space and measures. The White Rose scheme of work is followed and learning in these areas is through children’s play and group activities inside and outside. At Carr Mill we have recently completed the White Rose Reception Jigsaw Trial where our practitioners received specialist training and support in teaching early mathematics. We developed provision in 5 main areas: Developing Early Number Sense, Creating a Mathematical Classroom, Mathematical Talk and Questioning, Reasoning and Problem Solving in the Early Years and Exploring Pattern and Shape.

Impact

• Children display excitement and curiosity for maths
• They can explain its relevance to their everyday life and future, developing the skills to use in the real world
• They develop a love of the subject
• Children become fluent, competent and efficient mathematicians.
• Children use precise vocabulary when investigating connections and generalisations
• They are able to learn from mistakes and are resilient

Staff Development

As a school we are part of the TRG programme and now at the sustaining stage. This involves being part of a group of schools withinm the NW Hub3 sharing best practice, observing lessons in other schools and helping to upskill teacher’s subject knowledge. The Maths lead takes part in regular CPD through the Mathematics Mastery programme and this training is disseminated to staff.

In 2019, here at Carr Mill Primary School, we gained the SILVER award in a project to promote mathematics across St. Helens and Liverpool. 

The quality mark has been developed by Liverpool Learning Partnership and School Improvement Liverpool to promote positive attitudes to mathematics and numeracy as an essential life skill.

The aims of the project are:

• to raise the profile of Numeracy / Mathematics
• to change the culture of thinking around Numeracy / Mathematics
• to make real life connections
• to understand how Numeracy / Mathematics can affect life choices
• to make connections with other subjects
• to share and celebrate the enjoyment of Numeracy / Mathematics

What can you do to help?

• Be positive about maths. Don’t say things like, “I can’t do maths” or “I hated maths at school”; your child might start to think like that themselves.
• Point out the maths in everyday life. Include your child in activities involving maths such as using money, cooking and travelling.
• Praise your child for effort rather than talent – this shows them that by working hard they can always improve.
• When you hear people in the news or on the television talking about maths in a negative way, challenge this with your child.

What can we do to help?

We understand that not all parents feel confident in their own maths abilities.

Look through the links below which offer advice and tips for improving your own confidence in maths.

Alternatively, your child’s class teacher will be more than willing to help you find ways to support and extend maths learning at home.

St Helens Adult Learning Services

BBC Maths

Family Maths Toolkit

National Numeracy Challenge

NSPCC Number Day

On 1st February, the whole school came in dressed up as somebody they would like to be when they are older.

Everyone had a fantastic day and shared what maths they would have to do in their jobs!

See Images below and download the file to see what our children think.

TTRockstars Battle

As part of musical maths week, we held a TTRockstars battle in school.

Each class had their own battles to determine who made it through to the head to head stage in the hall.

All children took part and came into the hall to watch the final round!

The finalists even dressed up as rockstars (and some of the teachers did too!).

See images below.