Maths

Early Years Foundation Stage

In the Early Years Foundation Stage children access the area of learning; Mathematics through child choice and adult directed activities throughout the week.

In our Nursery setting, key mathematical skills are taught through small group, adult led activities as well as the children having access to resources and materials which reinforce those skills and allow child led exploration. Mathematical knowledge and concepts are taught indoors and in the outdoor learning environment, usually through a topic or theme, such as ‘Traditional Tales’.

In the Reception classes, once the children have settled into the setting there will be a taught Mathematics session 3 out of the 5 days. Throughout the week, all of the children will work with the teacher completing an adult directed activity, linked to the mathematical learning objective that week. In addition, there will be Mathematic based child choice activities for the children to access independently indoors and outdoors.

Children are assessed against the mathematical objectives set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum and this is recorded with photographs, text or videos in an electronic ‘Learning Book’. The children in Reception also have some of their work recorded in a maths book.

Maths Curriculum

At Ravensmead Primary School, the children are taught maths for a minimum of 1 hour Monday – Thursday with short mental maths and arithmetic sessions included throughout the day elsewhere. The yearly overview is taken from the White Rose long term plans and this is sequenced into small steps as appropriate for each class. The children are stretched and challenged using a range of problem solving and reasoning activities geared towards broadening and deepening their understanding, rather than accelerating through objectives.

Children are introduced to new concepts carefully using a range of concrete resources and pictorial representations before moving on to looking at abstract calculations or concepts. This approach allows the children at Ravensmead Primary School to embed their learning and start to identify links between the many areas of mathematics, both in the classroom and in the real world.

Assessment of maths takes place formally at the end of each term with the children completing standardised tests through the use of the White Rose assessments in the autumn and the spring term, followed by NFER tests in the summer term. Children in Year 2 and Year 6 children also take part in the national tests (SATS) at the end of the academic year. Alongside formal testing, teachers are continuously assessing what their children are doing in order to extend and consolidate learning, adapting and changing lessons and planning to support children’s development. At the end of the year, teachers use their continuous assessment to support their judgements on how the children have achieved against their end of year expectations.

Our current Maths Policy has been written in line with the new curriculum.

Appendix A Vocab