Mathematics
Intent
At Coton, we strive to ensure that our children are provided with the skills that they need to become confident, fluent and curious mathematicians who make connections between their learning, who are resilient and who are aware of their personal strengths and areas of development. We aim to provide opportunities for pupils to become confident, mathematical thinkers who use mathematical vocabulary to explain their understanding.
In order for our children to master key concepts and gain a deep understanding, confidence and competence in mathematics, we plan and teach using manageable small steps that are sequential and build on prior knowledge. To achieve this, we follow the robust Scheme of Learning available from White Rose. While we appreciate that the White Rose planning structures have been informed by world-class research and maths experts, teaching staff at Coton adapt the planning to suit reflect and address the needs of the pupils in their mixed-age class.
We dedicate one hour sessions to the teaching of mathematics which follows a consistent structure across the school. With arithmetic and multiplication tables underpinning many areas of mathematics, our curriculum at Coton aims to improve children’s rapid and accurate recall of essential number facts through sufficient, planned opportunities.
Each maths lesson that is taught allows the opportunity for embedding prior knowledge before the teaching of new concepts is modelled, practised and applied through a variety of Fluency, Reasoning and Problem Solving tasks. In addition, to ensure that our children understand that ‘maths is everywhere’, there is a strong commitment to linking our mathematical learning to real life concepts and other areas of the curriculum. Where possible, children at Coton are exposed to different representations of new concepts (concrete, pictorial, abstract) to challenge their thinking and allow them to make connections between mathematical ideas.
We are firm believers that, for children to have mastered a concept, the learning needs to be embedded in their long term memory. Research has shown that regular and repetitive practise is invaluable in achieving this, thus, at Coton, we value the importance of regular opportunities for retrieval practice.