Broughton Fields Primary SchoolMaths
Mathematics helps us to make sense of our world. It is a powerful, universal language used to explain, predict and represent events and tackle everyday problems. Mathematics is of central importance to our modern society – it develops over time and contributes to our economy. It is an essential part of everyone’s daily life and critical to science, technology, finance and engineering and offers ways of handing data in an increasingly digital world. Mathematics is necessary for any employment or independent life.
The aims of our maths teaching at Broughton Fields Primary School are aligned with the aims of the National Curriculum: fluency, reasoning and problem solving – both in the mathematics lesson and across the curriculum. We recognise that pupils need to learn basic number facts and acquire fluency in procedures, alongside developing conceptual understanding if they are to be able to solve increasingly complex problems in life and later in the workplace.
“The answer is only the beginning” captures our aim to teach children that maths is much more than an answer or a method. We want to teach our pupils to understand the mathematical concepts that they are working with, to explain why a concept works, or why a particular method works and to be able to confidently solve problems, reason, identify patterns, explain strategies and debate solutions.
Children delight in using Mathematics to solve a problem, especially when it leads them to an unexpected discovery. We have adopted a mastery approach to the teaching of mathematics, so we have high expectations of all our pupils. We endeavour to make the mathematics curriculum accessible to all pupils; moving them through the programme of study at broadly the same pace, with opportunities to work on the objectives more deeply for those who rapidly grasp concepts. All children need a deep understanding of the mathematics they are learning in order that future learning is built upon firm foundations.
Times Tables:
“Without procedural fluency and the ability to recall facts from memory, the student’s focus during problem solving will be on basic skills rather than the task at hand, thus drawing attention away from the learning objectives of the task.”(Mercer & Miller, 1992)
The ability to recall times table facts is vital as they link to nearly every unit in the mathematics curriculum. However, not only do we want pupils to recall the facts but also to have a secure understand of the relationships between the facts. This allows pupils to see the links, rather than viewing them as 144 facts in isolation. We make the links in the times table facts explicit in our times table strategies lesson and use multiple approaches to teach and learn times tables such as: TT rock stars, counting stick, chanting, games, mini quizzes and songs.
As a school, we follow the PIXL times table planner which identifies each half term the times table facts that each year group will learn and practise, this ensures that all facts are covered by the end of year 4 ready for the national multiplication check.