Maths

“We will always have STEM with us. Some things will drop out of the public eye and go away, but there will always be science, engineering and technology. And there will always, always be mathematics.”

Katherine Johnson, American Mathematician.

Why we teach your child maths:

Our aim is to provide a high-quality maths education that enthuses and empowers children to see the value of maths and its importance in the wider world; a way of thinking and finding solutions to problems we encounter every day.

We want children to be confident and proficient mathematicians and teach them to be able to fluently recall key mathematical facts, efficiently complete procedures, and understand mathematical concepts to apply them in a variety of contexts. We believe it is important for children to not only be able to find the answers to problems, but to be able to explain the reasoning behind their understanding using accurate mathematical vocabulary.

Overall, it is our aim to promote a real love of maths and help children understand the importance of it in our everyday lives, which they will continue to build on in secondary school and into their future careers.

What our curriculum looks like:

Our maths curriculum is ambitious, and this starts right from Nursery. Using the content from Development Matters, National Curriculum, as well as aligning with White Rose Maths. We have carefully sequenced our maths curriculum, so that children learn in sequenced ‘blocks’ which then have ‘small steps’ that carefully build on children’s prior learning at each step. The curriculum also ensures that skills that have been learnt are then used in different contexts, ensuring that children’s understanding is strengthened.

Our maths curriculum long-term plan can be found below:

Click here to view our maths curriculum long-term plan

How we teach maths:

As with every subject, we recognise what makes maths unique, and as a result make pedagogical choices to ensure teaching is the best it can possibly be.

We have captured our pedagogical choice for maths in our maths principles which can be seen below:

Effective Learning in Maths at Wilberforce

How you can help your child at home

EYFS and Key Stage 1

• Play board games such as ‘Snakes and Ladders’ or ‘Ludo’.
• Incorporate mathematics into everyday routines and activities: tidying up and meal times in particular provide opportunities for conversations about counting, comparing, time, and sharing.
• Snack times and meals are a great opportunity to learn mathematics, such as counting, estimating and comparing. For example, with young children, you could count and match items in a  ‘Teddy Bears’ Picnic.’ You can compare quantities such as more or less or quantify food items (making sure to link the last number counted to the number of items in the set) or discuss the capacity of different cups or jugs. A parent or puppet can make deliberate errors in counting and sharing, with the child encouraged to identify these mistakes.
• Use mathematical vocabulary where possible as part of conversations and play: for example, when making comparisons (which is bigger? which teddy is first in line? who has more? are they shared fairly?). Opportunities can also be taken for ‘shape-spotting’ and sorting around the home.
• Finding the mathematics in story books. Maths Through Stories contains explicit links to mathematics in stories, but you can also consider opportunities in more common story books for mathematical discussion.
• Use manipulatives to support learning. For example, building bricks could be used to model simple addition and multiplication, or toys used to make comparisons of size or quantity. Measuring items, scales, construction materials, puzzles, sorting and pattern materials are also great sources for discussion!
• Help your child with maths with this guidance from CBeebies and sing along and learn all about numbers with the Numberblocks.

Key Stage 2

• Use the Family Maths Toolkit from National Numeracy for over 200 ‘everyday maths’ activities for children and families to do together.
• Support your children with maths homework with guidance here.
• Online maths games, including times table practice are really useful to help your child practice at home.

Whole School

• Watch ‘Maths with Michael’, from White Rose Maths and TV presenter and teacher Michael Underwood. This mini series shows you some great ‘how to’ videos on how to support your child understand key strategies from subtraction to simple algebra.
• National Numeracy has great advice, ideas and resources to help parents support their children feel good about number.
• Bitesize videos for parents on Maths at Home has some great information on what children learn in each year group in Primary School.