Maths Curriculum 

At Rise Park, our intention is for each child to achieve their full potential through our Maths teaching. We endeavour to not only develop maths skills and understanding required for later life, but also to foster an enthusiasm and fascination about maths itself. We aim to increase pupil confidence and ambition in maths, so they are able to express themselves and their ideas using the language of maths with assurance. We aim to inspire and excite students by making learning exciting, personalising our interactions with pupils through feedback and expectation, promoting independence and encouraging risk taking by rewarding the process, not just the final outcome. 

 

Following the National Curriculum, our aim is to ensure that all children: 

  • Become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including varied and frequent practise, using increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately 
  • Are able to reason and explain by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification, proof using mathematical vocabulary 
  • Can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing skill and confidence, including breaking down problems, persevering in tasks, and being able to consider a variety of approaches 

 

Teaching Approach 

At Rise Park, we follow a mastery approach to learning and use the White Rose materials as a basis for what we teach. We adapt these plans to match the needs of our children each year. Within lesson, there will be a combination of teacher modelling, questioning, practical activities using high quality resources, opportunities to talk and explain ideas, as well as opportunities to work independently and practice skills. We also understand the value of the ‘concrete, pictorial, abstract’ path to learning, which supports pupils to develop a deeper understanding of concepts. We always work towards children having the resilience and skills required to be real life problems solvers and to be fluent in both their number skills and their ability to express their understanding. 

 

Number fluency  

Fluent computational skills are dependent on accurate and rapid recall of basic number bonds to 20 and times-tables facts. Spending a short time every day on these basic facts quickly leads to improved fluency. This can be done using simple whole class chorus chanting, use of a ten frame, as well as other games to help learn these key facts. This is an important step to developing conceptual understanding through identifying patterns and relationships, (for example, knowing that the products in the 6× table are double the products in the 3× table or number bonds facts can be used to find subtraction facts). This will help children develop a strong sense of number relationships, an important prerequisite for procedural fluency. This short daily practise of basic number skills may take place at the beginning of the day or the start of maths lesson. It can also be incorporated into other parts of the day. We have a comprehensive scheme for teaching times tables throughout school, which involves direct teaching, use of a number line, looking for patterns, singing, chanting playing games and a structured system of testing to build confidence.  

Problem solving 

 The key skills of problem are explicitly taught and practiced at Rise Park using our problem-solving toolkit. 

 

At the beginning of the year, these skills are explicitly taught and modelled, giving children time to really explore and understand each skill. Then this same skill, will be incorporated into other lessons, allowing children to have varied opportunities to practice these skills in different contexts. Each skill will be repeated two or three times over the year, until the summer term when children will be able to select the appropriate skill to solve unknown problems with developing confidence.

SEND 

 In Maths lessons, SEND children are supported through the use of resources and scaffolded activities which allow the children to learn and progress at the correct level. Maths also forms part of the SEND children’s weekly BSquared learning where they have individualised Maths targets that they can work on in a small group that are appropriate to their level.