Intent
At Prees C.E. Primary School, we believe that given carefully sequenced learning opportunities and small steps of teaching, all children can be successful in mathematics. As a result of success in all aspects of number and shape, we wish that our children develop positive attitudes towards mathematics so as they foster a lifelong love of the subject.

We want all children to acquire secure declarative knowledge (number facts and bonds and key mathematical facts) to support efficient mental and written calculations. We aim that sufficient, carefully planned practice and rehearsal is provided for all children so as they can become proficient and fluent mathematicians who can apply mathematical skills in a range of contexts and articulate their thinking successfully.

Our rigorous calculation policy outlines the mental and written methods that children should develop. These methods are carefully planned to be sequential, so children build clear, progressive procedural knowledge. This can then be developed into strategic knowledge so as children can solve problems and routine tasks most effectively (conditional knowledge).

We seek to ensure that children understand the relevance of how, what they learn now, relates to what they learn next, and how these skills relate to their everyday lives.

Implementation
Mathematics is a core subject: it is taught discretely in Key Stage 1 and 2, and as part of small group, adult-led, or child-initiated learning in the Early Years.

Our mathematics curriculum is designed to ensure core aspects of mathematics are taught and revisited in a cyclical approach to ensure that children master progressively sophisticated knowledge and understanding of mathematical concepts. An agreed long-term plan guides teachers through the content of the National Curriculum in a logical and sequenced way. Professional Development materials established by the NCETM support teachers in planning and resourcing for small steps in a lesson; examples of high-quality questions and related activities to ensure children’s knowledge can be developed progressively.

We follow pedagogic practices that broadly keep the class working together on the same topic, addressing the need for all children to master the curriculum and for some to gain greater depth of proficiency and understanding. Challenge is provided by ‘going deeper’ rather than accelerating into new mathematical content. Support is achieved for lower attaining children through revisiting of core concepts and immediate intervention in lessons.

We believe children must have sufficient time to become fluent. In Reception and Key Stage One, all children take part in a daily fluency session which follows the NCETM ‘Mastering Number’ planning. This provides high-quality planning and resources to support all learners in acquiring and rehearsing number facts. In Key Stage Two, all children complete a daily ‘fluency’ session which focuses on recall and rehearsal of facts and methods.  Children in Year 4 and 5 take part in daily Mastering Number Sessions which build and secure multiplicative fluency and reasoning.

Impact
Data for end of Key Stage 2 assessments shows that our children are consistently meeting, or exceeding, the national percentage of children achieving expected standard in mathematics. Our children talk with positivity about mathematics and mathematics lessons because of these successes. They engage in lessons and use increasingly appropriate mathematical language to reason and conjecture about the mathematics they access. Our children have appropriate declarative (factual recall), procedural (methodologies) and conditional knowledge (strategies) to use and apply across the maths curriculum.

As a result of fluency work within our early years and Key Stage One, children have an increasingly secure sense of number which has not only improved mathematical confidence but has allowed them to access and manipulate number problems more successfully.

Mathematics Long-Term Plan