“Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater.” – Albert Einstein
“The only way to learn mathematics is to do mathematics.” – Paul Halmos
AIM
Our objective at Buckland Newton CE Primary School is to provide students with a well-rounded and comprehensive mathematics mastery curriculum. We achieve this by thoroughly teaching the three objectives of the National Curriculum, which include Fluency, Reasoning, and Problem Solving. Through this approach, our students acquire a strong understanding of key mathematical facts and methods, enabling them to recall and utilise this knowledge effectively. We strive to ensure that our children can apply their mathematical skills and knowledge to practical and real-life situations. Our innovative teaching methods help to instill mathematical confidence in our students and foster a passion for this subject. By teaching the fundamentals of mathematics, our students can develop a holistic understanding of how maths relates to other subjects and the world around them. We firmly believe that fostering a positive attitude and setting high expectations inspires our students to attain high standards.
METHODOLOGY – The five big ideas for teaching mastery
Coherence – The teaching methodology is intended to facilitate a cohesive learning progression throughout the curriculum, ensuring that all students have the opportunity to develop a comprehensive and interconnected comprehension of mathematics that can be applied across various scenarios.
Representation and Structure – Mathematics teachers purposefully choose mathematical representations to reveal the underlying mathematical structure, with the aim of helping students develop a visual understanding of the concepts rather than relying on the representations solely as tools for solving problems. These representations serve as mental images that students can use to reflect on mathematical ideas, facilitating a profound comprehension of mathematical patterns and relationships.
Mathematical Thinking – Central to the learning of mathematics by pupils is the development of mathematical thinking, which involves searching for patterns and relationships, drawing connections, forming hypotheses, applying reasoning, and making generalizations. Mathematical thinking should be actively encouraged in all lessons, with pupils using precise mathematical language to communicate their ideas.
Fluency – Being able to recall key number facts and procedures efficiently and accurately is crucial for mathematical fluency, as it allows pupils to concentrate on comprehending concepts and solving problems in a deeper manner. However, fluency encompasses more than just memorization. It entails pupils being adaptable enough to switch between different mathematical contexts and representations, identifying patterns and correlations, selecting appropriate techniques and strategies, and applying them to solve problems effectively.
Variation – The purpose of variation is to draw closer attention to a key feature of a mathematical concept or structure through varying some elements while keeping others constant.
Conceptual variation involves varying how a concept is represented to draw attention to critical features. Often more than one representation is required to look at the concept from different perspectives and gain comprehensive knowledge. Procedural variation considers how the student will ‘proceed’ through a learning sequence. Purposeful changes are made in order that pupils’ attention is drawn to key features of the mathematics, scaffolding students’ thinking to enable them to reason logically and make connections.
The Five Big Ideas were first published by the NCETM.
Early Years Foundation Stage Maths Overview Whole-School-Maths-Overview SAST Calculation Policy