Maths

OUR VISION FOR MATHEMATICS

Children are natural mathematicians! Long before they start school, they are engaging with the world in mathematical ways, from counting and sorting objects, to noticing patterns, and even dividing a treat fairly among friends.

At Wensley Fold we have a passion for Mathematics and strive to nurture a fascination with the subject.

We provide an environment in which an understanding of mathematics is acquired through a process of enquiry and experiment, with an emphasis on ‘have a go’ mentality without fear of failure.  It is our intention that all pupils build both competence and confidence in mathematics knowledge and also its concepts and the necessary skills.

We place great emphasis upon solving problems with mental arithmetic and always consider which method ( mental, jotting or formal written) is the most efficient, as well as effective. We start every lesson with a carefully planned mental arithmetic practise session; 15 minutes of count, teach , apply.

We provide lots of opportunities for children to explain , how they know and explain their mathematical thinking.

We actively encourage the application of mathematics across the curriculum, we seek out opportunities for pupils to apply mathematics in real life contexts.

MEET OUR SUBJECT LEADER

Miss Sharples is our subject leader. She is a keen mathematician and studied maths at A level and sport science to degree level where her love of maths helped greatly with her bio mechanics module.  Miss Sharples believes that children deserve to be inspired by STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and to reach their full potential in these subjects.  She loves practical , engaging maths and believes passionately in developing children’s mental arithmetic in order that children thoroughly enjoy their maths learning and become lifelong mathematicians.

CPD

This is the year of maths at Wensley Fold. Our teachers and support staff are working with a consultant from Sense of Number to develop our mathematical teaching skills even more. Staff at Wensley Fold are taking part in one to one planning sessions and twilight training events with Anthony Reddy , maths consultant, to ensure our lessons are carefully planned with the highest expectations in order to develop our children’s mathematical fluency.

All KS2 teachers have had update training from LbQ and Mathletics to ensure that they are aware of their full capacities.

Mrs Simpson has delivered workshops to the parents, 91% of families were represented. Parents were taught about how to teach maths at home through easy ideas and how to develop counting.

The teachers and children in KS2, love to use Learning by Questions to enhance their teaching and learning, especially in maths. LbQ is a classroom app filled with curriculum-aligned question sets and immediate feedback to super-charge learning. It gives automatic marking and instant insight for effective interventions.

The teachers and children at Wensley Fold enjoy using Number Fun in their lessons.

The Number Fun Portal is the creation of Dave Godfrey, specialist primary mathematics consultant. The songs and activities in the Portal have been battle-tested in the classroom for over 20 years. They are unique resources that combine visualisation, animation, vocabulary, story, song and humour in powerful packages for learning, helping children aged 3-11 secure the basics and develop mastery of mathematics.

Take part in a Battle of the Bands and improve your TT score.

Times Tables Rock Stars is a carefully sequenced programme of daily times tables practice.

Each week concentrates on a different times table, with a recommended consolidation week for rehearsing the tables that have recently been practised every third week or so.

This format has very successfully boosted times tables recall speed for hundreds of thousands of pupils over the last 8 years in over 16,000 schools – both primary and secondary – worldwide.

Each maths lesson starts with RM Maths. Half the class do RM while half the class do mental arithmetic practice, leading to very focused , personalised learning.

RM maths is a web based programme that the children can access in their home and at school.

Maths.co.uk is a web based programme that the children can access in their home and at school using their personal log in details.

The children are set homework each week on their Maths.co.uk web page and are expected to complete the set questions to take part in golden time each week.

It gives automatic marking and instant insight for effective interventions.

CURRICULUM OVERVIEW AND SKILLS PROGRESSION

Mental Arithmetic