“Without mathematics, there’s nothing you can do. Everything around you is mathematics.

Everything around you is numbers.”

Shakuntala Devi, Indian writer and mental calculator

“Without mathematics, there’s nothing you can do. Everything around you is mathematics. Everything around you is numbers.”

— Shakuntala Devi, Indian writer and mental calculator

Intent

Mathematics is present everywhere, it is an integral part of everyday life and will play a vital role in our children’s futures. At New Milton Infant School, we provide our children with a foundation for understanding the world and prepare them for the next stage in their learning. We deliver a carefully and coherently planned maths curriculum that engages and excites, whilst ensuring all children, irrespective of background and starting points, acquire a deep, secure and adaptable understanding which they can apply to various contexts and problems. Our high quality mathematics education enables all of our children to become confident and enthusiastic mathematicians who are able to problem solve, reason, explain and justify, applying their fluency knowledge and understanding, whilst appreciating the power and importance of maths.

Implementation

At New Milton Infant school, in Key Stage One, we follow the National Curriculum Programmes of study to teach Mathematics. Children take part in daily maths lessons where they learn from high quality models and representations, practise and explore with new and existing skills, apply what they know, share their reasoning and solve problems. Outside of maths lessons, there are also daily opportunities for children to develop their mental strategies and gain an instant recall of key facts, whilst revisiting previously taught learning.

In Year R, we use ‘White Rose Maths’ as a structure for our long term planning. Children are introduced to maths through a range of structured and exploratory mathematical activities including teacher led groups and ‘Let’s Learn’. This continuous and varied fluency aims to develop a secure understanding whilst exposing children to a variety of mathematical domains.

Throughout Key Stage One, we have adopted a cyclical approach to maths teaching and learning (following the Hampshire schemes of learning), where there is ample opportunity for children to revisit previously learned knowledge, concepts and procedures. This ensures that mathematical knowledge is embedded so children can work with increasing independence, apply their skills to increasingly more complex concepts, and gain confidence in their abilities as a mathematician. Our mastery approach develops procedural fluency through high quality modelling, meaningful activities, exploration and practise. This allows children to make sense of their world and make important connections. A highly effective Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract (CPA) approach is used throughout our maths lessons, building on children’s existing knowledge and developing a deep and sustainable understanding of maths. It involves linking concrete materials that bring maths to life in real contexts, to pictorial representations that help children to make mental connections, to abstract symbols and calculations.

Within our school, high quality interactive teaching and purposeful, collaborative learning underpin all lessons, with everybody aspiring to be the best mathematician they can. Our dialogic approach to teaching enables all children to develop their fluency and conceptual understanding whilst making connections between their mathematical thinking. Teachers’ effective use of questioning, vocabulary and immediate feedback, alongside ongoing assessments, ensure that children achieve the best possible outcomes and have many opportunities for challenge, including children who speak English as an Additional Language and those on the SEND register. All children are encouraged to use a wide range of mathematical vocabulary, enabling them to articulate their reasoning with confidence. Teachers use their excellent subject knowledge to deliver lessons that inspire curiosity and allow children to build on previous skills. Adults are skilled enough to grasp spontaneous opportunities to embed knowledge further, and enabling maths environments in every classroom support children to become independent learners and persevere when presented with challenges. We encourage our children’s natural curiosity by allowing them to explore their ideas, spot patterns and make links, helping to develop their competence, understanding and appreciation of the fundamentals of mathematics.

At New Milton Infant School, we actively encourage all parents to support their children’s mathematical learning at home. Within the classroom, teachers use ‘Mathseeds’ and ‘Mathletics’ as a tool to engage children in mathematical activities. Children are motivated by the fun characters and exciting games and are keen to take part. All children in Year R and 1 have a login to ‘Mathseeds’ and all children in Year 2 have logins to ‘Mathletics’ which enables them to practise and embed their skills and knowledge whilst at home.

Impact

Our inclusive and engaging maths curriculum means all children at New Milton Infant School make very good progress and achieve well. Our keen and curious mathematicians use their flexible thinking skills to find different ways to solve problems and are able to communicate their ideas effectively. By promoting the value of perseverance across the school, our children are keen to take on challenges and are able to work independently and in a team in order to achieve. Our collaborative approach to learning allows adults and children to progress together, exploring, discovering, and deepening the knowledge of key ideas needed to access more sophisticated learning in the future. As a result of the high quality education we provide, our children leave our school with a fluency in the fundamental mathematical domains, the ability to reason effectively and the positive mind set to solve unfamiliar and challenging problems, helping them to be successful in the next stage of their learning and beyond.