What is the intent of the maths curriculum?

At Kennet Valley Primary School, our aim is to use a mastery-based approach to nurture our children to become curious, confident and flexible mathematicians who enjoy the subject and the challenges it poses. 

How is the subject implemented?

At Kennet Valley, we plan sequences of maths lessons to provide concrete, hands-on activities using sentence stems to reason and explain methods used, which lead to pictorial then abstract challenges, using a variety of fluency, reasoning and problem-solving questions. The children are active learners in lessons, and we aim to develop confident, enthusiastic mathematicians who share our passion and love of the subject.

We use an episodic, whole-class mastery approach (teach, do, teach, do) using a variety of manipulatives, and use the 'I do, You do, We do' sequence of modelling in lessons, followed by challenges involving fluency, reasoning and problem-solving. We mark live, where possible, to address misconceptions and to support and challenge where needed.

Teachers use the White Rose scheme of learning (and other resources where appropriate, eg NCETM, I see Reasoning), as guidance for planning to ensure coverage of the Maths National Curriculum and to ensure reasoning and problem-solving are included throughout lessons alongside fluency. Planning identifies provision to support and challenge pupils as well as key vocabulary, stem sentences, whole class and independent tasks.

What will you see in the classroom?

KS2 lessons follow a mastery approach employing episodic teaching, with children working with a talk partner and answering in full sentences during the whole class session. Children then self-select (with some teacher intervention if needed) from a selection of challenges. 

Reception/KS 1 also follow the White Rose progression. They have an adult-led input linked to White Rose followed by some guided group activities and/or enhanced continuous provision activities. Maths resources are always accessible.

Each class has an extra 10/15-minute fluency session 4 times each week. KS 1 follow Mastering Number programme, KS 2 practice times-tables and fluency with the 4 operations for both integers, decimal numbers and fractions.

What will you see in books?

Children from Year 2 up regularly record their maths work in books. Reception and Key Stage 1 also have maths folders in which they store larger pieces of work. In Reception and Year 1 learning is also captured on Class Dojo and saved to the children's portfolios. In all year groups, worksheets are used judiciously to enhance learning by reducing unnecessary copying of questions. These may or may not be kept depending on their purpose.

Where possible, teachers and TAs mark ‘live’ in green pen during a lesson and children then purple polish corrections. 

What do children say about the subject?

Children are enthusiastic about Maths at Kennet Valley and, since introducing stem sentences, have become much more confident to explaining methods and reasoning to answers. Pupil Voice is positive and regularly discussed with feedback given to staff. By using manipulatives across all classes, all children are able to engage with the structure of the maths. All children are also encouraged to explain the methods they have used to secure learning and deepen it.

How do we measure the impact of teaching on learning within the subject at Kennet Valley? 

Maths provision is evaluated through a range of methods, including:

• Learning walks
• Pupil Voice
• Book Looks
• Pupil Progress meetings with staff
• White Rose End of block assessments
• Pupil Questionnaires
• Data Scrutiny following NFER/SATs tests
• SONAR assessment tracker