Maths at Tiffield Academy

Our ambition at Tiffield Academy is for all children to achieve a secure understanding of maths.  We strive to ensure childre and young people (YP) reach their full potential, leave school being numerate and have a love for numbers, tackling maths with confidence as it is a skill for life.

Intent

Our maths teaching is underpinned by the belief that all children/YP need a deep understanding of the mathematics they are learning and how this connects to the real world, preparation for adulthood and employability.  We ensure all learners have access to concepts and the rich connections between them. We have an ambitious Maths curriculum for all learners.

We believe secure understanding will only be achieved when more time is spent on key concepts, through revisiting, reviewing and embedding mathematics, where possible, throughout our thematic curriculum.  This allows for the development of depth and sufficient practice to embed learning. Devoting time to key concepts enables us to:

• Teach the processes, then allow the children/YP to apply their knowledge, increasingly rapidly and accurately.
• Commit key facts to children’s/YP long-term memory and/or learn skills to know where to find this information.

Through our adapted program and unique, pupil-focused learning opportunities, we expect many of our children to be able to:

• Use mathematical concepts, facts and procedures fluently, independently or with support.
• Have a sufficient depth of knowledge and understanding to reason and explain mathematical concepts and procedures and use them to solve problems in everyday contexts.
• Recall key number facts e.g. number bonds and times tables with accuracy and use them to calculate and work out unknown facts.

Leaders and teachers at Tiffield prioritise the teaching of maths. Leaders monitor the provision of maths through learning walks, evidence scans, pupil and staff voice and the impact of this provision through the analysis of assessment data.

Implementation

In Mathematics our intent is implemented through the following aims:

1. To deliver the mathematics curriculum from Birth to 5 learning outcomes, through to the National Curriculum. This will be adapted and scaffolded to meet the needs of all our learners so that their full potential is realised.

2. To be pupil centred, encouraging and success based through promoting a positive learning atmosphere.

3. To develop a broad and balanced curriculum which caters for all pupils and to deliver a range of experiences to teach the necessary mathematical language and concepts in all areas of the mathematics curriculum.

4. To promote positive attitudes towards mathematics and an enthusiasm for mathematics in school.

5. To use a variety of different teaching methods, styles and resources to enhance the learning of mathematical language, concepts and skills in all areas of the mathematics curriculum.

6. To develop pupil understanding of mathematics through experience, exploration and enquiry.

7. To develop mathematical reasoning skills and the ability to solve problems logically and systematically.

8. To use a cross-curricular approach to enable learners to transfer mathematical skills into everyday life.

9. To encourage pupils to develop the ability to work independently and in co-operation with others, using the TEACCH program.

10. Where possible, to teach through interest appropriate approaches, considering the resources used in each key stage.

Our long-term plans show a two-yearly cycle to allow our learners to spend more time on each mathematical concept.  This ensures our learners can embed their understanding of maths and apply this to different contexts.  We use the Whiterose mathematics scheme of work to guarantee coverage of mathematics through the spiral curriculum.  This ensures learners will revisit and secure their understanding, reducing the risk of our pupil’s acquiring gaps in knowledge. 

Our learners are placed within pathway one and two or pathway three and four.  Our pathway one and two learners will access their mathematics lessons through an informal/semiformal multimodel sensory approach. Although this learning links to the EYFS Framework and National Curriculum, lessons are flexible and adapted to allow learners to explore mathematical concepts in a practical and engaging ways at their own level and level of engagement.  Opportunities for communication development are planned through strongly modelled and scaffolded tasks using mathematical language.  Our mathematical learning links directly to our Tiffield levels.  Observations of pupil learning are made and assessed against the Tiffield levels to ensure learners are progressing and deepening their understanding.

Our pathway three and four learners will access their mathematics lessons through a more formal learning approach.  These lessons are planned from the EYFS Framework, National Curriculum expectations and our Tiffield levels.  Learners have opportunities to review prior learning through a 3 Fast Maths (3FM) approach.  Lessons will incorporate opportunities for fluency, problem-solving and reasoning.  Learners will develop communication skills through scaffolded and well-modelled use of mathematical language.  Observations of learners, task outcomes and end of unit assessments are used to measure progress against the Tiffield levels.

All learners have four maths lessons each week and these are rooted in the concrete, pictorial, abstract approach. There are opportunities for reviewing learning through continuous provision, lesson starters and across the curriculum. Through embedding these approaches, our learners can develop their mathematical understanding and progress at their own pace.

We provide opportunities to explore mathematics across all other curriculum areas and in everyday situations such as snack time, dinner time, themed sessions and play time. Mathematics is also an integral part of learning outside the classroom — children are given opportunities during Forest School to explore mathematical concepts such as pattern and shape.

Impact

Through our personalised and flexible approach, our learners will be confident, resilient and independent in their maths understanding and application.  They will develop a positive attitude and a love of numbers and mathematics and an ability to apply maths as a life skill, at their level.  Our learners will solve problems and transfer this knowledge to other subjects, demonstrating their thinking and using mathematical language and processes. Pupils will move between concrete, pictorial and abstract representations to demonstrate their understanding. Our aim is to build a strong foundation of mathematics in all our learners, that prepares pupils for future success, both within and beyond school.