Maths

At Harmony Primary School we believe all pupils can enjoy maths and it is our aim to build lifelong, confident mathematicians who have a love for the subject and are prepared for the next stage of their learning.

To achieve this, we ensure that the Teaching for Mastery approach (coherence, variation, mathematical thinking, careful use of representations and structures) is fully embedded in our maths teaching. Our maths curriculum provides pupils with the opportunity to master mathematical concepts through carefully sequenced, interactive maths lessons. Maths lesson are carefully sequenced for progression and appropriate challenge.

How we teach Maths

Our lessons are broken down into small sequenced learning steps that gradually expose each mathematical concept; ensuring learning is accessible to all pupils. A key learning generalisation is then carefully exposed and created with the pupils as they apply the learning to a range of different contexts. We use varied concrete, pictorial and abstract representations alongside each other to carefully expose the mathematical structure and ensure our pupils can move flexibly between different representations and mathematical ideas. Each lesson provides opportunities for the pupils to reason and solve mathematical problems. To extend learning, we provide greater depth challenges, which are used to deepen knowledge whilst making links to other areas of the curriculum.

Developing Maths Fluency

Each day our pupils have the opportunity to recall, rehearse and secure key additive and multiplicative facts. Developing fluency skills in this way reduces the cognitive overload during the main maths lesson, helping all pupils to understand new concepts.

Progression and Mastery

Our Maths Mastery approach ensures pupils are challenged to deepen their understanding of mathematical concepts through metacognition. Pupils are encouraged to Maths Journal, engage in mathematical talk and invite peer assessment throughout the Maths curriculum. Our pupils start the important journey of learning their times tables in year 1, with the intention that this will be consolidated and completed (up to the 12 times tables) by year 4. In KS2, students delve into new topics relating to fractions and decimals and build on their knowledge of shape and multi-step problems using the four operations. In UKS2, pupils will be confident with using maths in a range of everyday scenarios; applying their knowledge in real-life situations in an adept manner. As they move into year 6, pupils are expected to be able to draw graphs to map data and to solve problems using algebra.