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Mathematics

Mathematics at Brownmead

To empower all children to achieve in mathematics to create better futures.

Maths Photo 

Our Intent:

-Ensure all children learn in mathematics through a ‘teaching for mastery’ approach.

-Ensure all children enjoy mathematics by promoting a growth mindset view for all staff, pupils and parents.

-Ensure factual, procedural, conceptual, and metacognitive knowledge and understanding are developed.

-Ensure children can make links through using flexible and efficient thinking in different contexts.

-Ensure children are fluent, able to reason and can solve problems in a range of different contexts.

National Curriculum Aims

-Become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.

-Reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language.

-Can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.

Our Implementation

In the academic year 2022-2023, Brownmead embarked on our ‘teaching for mastery’ journey. Despite our strong end of key stage results, we acknowledged that to continually provide the best education for our pupils we need to be adapting our approaches.

Through using the EEF implementation plan, we began to work with our local maths hub and the NCETM, to revolutionise our teaching of mathematics to achieve our vision for the pupils in our school.

We are currently in our second year of a four-year programme to develop the teaching of mastery within our setting.

Our provision for mathematics includes:

-Maths lessons every day (5 days a week) which are 60 minutes long.

-Extra number fluency sessions (4 days a week) which are 10 minutes long.

-Extra times table sessions (4 days a week) which are 5 minutes long.

-Cross curricular and incidental learning occurring across the curriculum.


We follow White Rose Maths for our long term and medium term planning within mathematics. This is a scheme to promote mastery and has a clear and coherent progression within each year group and from each year group to the next.

LTP

These medium-term plans visit each unit in blocks. This gives teachers and pupils adequate time to teach and acquire a deeper depth of knowledge for each domain.

These blocks will build on pupil’s learning from previous years but also previous units within the same year as children will revisit key concepts and skills learnt.

SMall STeps

Each unit block has been broken down into small steps that retrieve prior knowledge from the long-term memory, teach new skills and concepts gradually in manageable bite size chunks and allow time to develop and practice the new skills.

MAstery 5 big ideas

The teaching and learning of mathematics through a mastery approach come from the 5 big ideas: Coherence, representation and structure, mathematical thinking, variation and fluency.

Every year group, class, lesson, and pupil will be individual at Brownmead as we adapt our teaching to provide the best opportunities for each individual child. However, these key 5 strands of mastery will shine through everything that happens within mathematics.

You can view a detailed document of the progression of skills in each domain throughout each year group by following the link below. 

Maths Progression Document

We believe in equiping our children with a wealthy toolkit of methods, strategies and representations so they can tackle a range of different problems in different contexts. In order to achieve this, we have a calculation policy for each year group. 

You can view the full document of these below for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

Add & Subtract Calculation Policy

Multiply & Divide Calculation Policy

Our Impact

Formative Assessments

Formative assessment is used daily to support teachers in making informed choices and adapting their teaching to meet the needs of their pupils. Teachers will use white board work, individual questioning, hinge questions, probing questions and more to identify information to use.

End of unit Assessments

After each unit is taught, there will be a ned of unit assessment from White Rose. There should be a sticker placed in books with the date and domain on it (see templates on ALL MATHS RESOURCES for the template sticker). Teachers will mark these and input the data on the system spreadsheet. They will then use this data to inform future teaching to further reinforce these concepts that children have struggled on.

Termly Assessments

At the end of each term, all children take part in maths tests from NTS. The tests are split into two parts: arithmetic and reasoning (with reasoning over 2 papers as they increase in age). All data will be inputted into the mark website to analyse.

Learning Walks

Learning walks will take place 3 times formally throughout the year for the subject lead and the SLT team. This will aim to identify how effective the teaching and learning of maths is across the school and to identify next steps to further improve the teaching and learning for all.

Book Looks

Book looks will take place in spread out regular intervals throughout the year. This is to gain a further look into what maths lessons look like across the school and inform how we can further improve.

Pupil Progress Meeting

Pupil progress meetings will take place each term with the assessment lead ands the teacher to discuss findings from the past term and assessment week in maths. Key targets and aims for the next term will be agreed to ensure all children are making progress.

Pupil Voice

Pupils from a range of backgrounds, abilities and year groups will routinely be asked their opinions on how mathematics is taught within our school to ensure that the children’s interest and views are at the centre of what we do. These will be analysed and actioned through the subject leader’s action plan.