Mathematics

Our Mathematics curriculum is based on the National Curriculum, and on the recognition that "Mathematics is a creative and highly inter-connected discipline that has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems. It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. A high-quality mathematics education therefore provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject."

Mathematics National Curriculum, September 2013

At Great Tey, we follow White Rose Maths, the widely respected, nationally used strategy for the comprehensive teaching of mathematical skills.  WRM breaks up the national curriculum into blocks such as Place Value, addition and subtraction, fractions and shape.  Concepts are taught in a way that engages all pupils, challenging the most able and allowing those who find maths more challenging to develop greater confidence.  As we have mixed age classes, children in each year group will generally work on the same concepts at the same time, though they will be working at different levels and with varying degrees of independence.  From Reception to Y6, we adopt a concrete - pictorial - abstract approach, whereby concepts are introduced using practical apparatus such as counterc, blocks and other objects the children can pick up and explore.  Once children have begun to master the concept, they move on to drawing and using pictures to support their learning.  Once they no longer need this support, they can complete abstract mathematical operations, such as written methods.

For example, when learning addition, the concrete, pictorial, abstract approach would look a little like this -

Concrete - in the beginning, children put together small groups of counters or blocks to add them together

Pictorial - children begin to draw their own pictures to represent addition, or use drawn pictures -

 Abstract - children use written and mental methods, without the need for concrete or pictorial support -

We want all our pupils by the end of Year Six to be able to:

• complete mathematical operations with confidence, fluency and understanding;

• recognise when the answer they have found makes sense, and take action to check their working when it does not

• know their times tables to 12 x 12 fluently and be able to use this knowledge to work out other number facts;

• record mathematical working fluently and clearly;

• solve multi-step word problems using their knowledge of maths;

• use maths confidently and accurately in a wide variety of real-life situations, such as finance and budgeting, shopping and measuring;

• have a suitable technical vocabulary through which to understand and discuss their maths;
• understand fractions, decimals and percentages and be able to confidently use them in subsequent lessons and in real-life situations

• be able to speak about maths with confidence in different situations

Please read on below to find more information on what we teach, how we teach it and how we ensure we are creating authors of the future!

Why do we learn Maths?

We are creating future mathematicians by ....

• showing children the real-life uses for maths, and how it can help them in ways that interest them, such as sport, coding, money
• ensuring children have opportunities to develop their mathematical skills, including developing a wide mathematical vocabulary they are able to use well
• taking a structured approach to developing core mathematical skills so that children can build on prior knowledge and work confidently
• revisiting key skills and knowledge across the primary years to ensure mathematical skills are embedded and can be used in different real-life contexts
• developing children's interest in, and curiosity about, mathematics
• ensuring children have opportunities to ask and answer questions, developing their ability to make connections and recognise when answers make sense
•   introducing children to the wide range of jobs mathematicians can do and nurturing their ambitions to work in maths -based jobs in the future, contributing to their communities and the wider world

What do we learn?

Whole School Curriculum Map

Our Whole School Curriculum Map for Mathematics can be found here. 

Calculation Policy

Our Whole School Calculation Policy can be found here.

Key Objectives

Click here for our Key Objectives in Maths 

Year Group Schemes of Learning

Please click on each unit to see the scheme of learning ( EYFS Spring and Summer SOLs will be published as soon as they are made available by White Rose Maths).  Please note that, due to our mixed-age classes, units may not always be taught in the order set out below.  Your child's teacher will be able to give you further information.

Reception -

 Year One -  

Year Two -

 Year Three

Year Four

Year Five

Year Six

What does our learning in Maths help us to do?

- develop our understanding of the world around us

- develop skills in recalling and applying knowledge rapidly and accurately 

- ask and answer questions, following lines of enquiry and justifying their answers

- make connections and generalisations

- persevere to solve problems

- prepare for our future, whichever career we choose