To enable all children to develop fluency, problem solving and reasoning skills so that they enjoy Maths and can confidently apply their mathematical skills in real life and across the curriculum.
At Dagnall School, we aim to ensure that our children are given all the tools and resources required to become confident mathematicians through a resource based and engaging Maths curriculum. We understand that Maths is a vital tool that everyone needs to use throughout their lives and we aim to give children the confidence, knowledge, fluency and understanding for each step of their learning journey as they move through primary and onto secondary school as well as giving them tools for life.

We aim for the children to be given the opportunity to develop their mathematical understanding, improve fluency and build on their problem solving abilities and to develop their mathematical reasoning skills. We will provide opportunities to solve problems in multiple ways to understand the how and why behind a mathematical concept. By allowing children to achieve this, we are giving them the ability to use the skills they have learnt and to then transfer them to any section of the Maths curriculum.

Throughout each mathematical concept, children are guided towards becoming more independent in understanding themselves what they will need to use in order to achieve the learning intention.

Implementation 

We follow the Herts for Learning Essential Maths scheme for mixed year groups where the emphasis is on allowing children to expand their mathematical thinking. Essential Maths consists of sequences that have step-by-step guidance to support teachers in covering the entire Maths curriculum.

Teachers use appropriate mathematical language to stimulate the children and encourage them to do the same to develop their vocabulary and are supported, through speaking frames, to develop their ability to discuss their mathematical reasoning.

These plans include examples of how concrete and pictorial representations can benefit a child’s learning as well providing opportunities for children to develop their thinking ahead of moving to concepts in their abstract form.

Learning sequences provided by Essential Maths vary in length depending on the concept, with some units only needing a couple of lessons but more complex areas taking longer.  The sequences are broken down into steps to aid teacher planning. These steps do not correlate with single lessons as some steps can be short, whilst others could take a couple of days. Each sequence is planned with progression and consistency in mind and you can see the progression as children move up the school. Children are taught Maths lessons every day.

The plans also give teachers an indication on what the children should be achieving if they were hitting age-related expectations. This is done through the use of destination questions where children answer questions based on the learning they have done. These aid teacher assessment for learning and show exactly where children are in a unit.

Teachers use assessment for learning throughout lessons to identify children who need a scaffold or another type of further support.

Children are taught in a way that allows them to understand the reasoning behind how an answer is found through the use of manipulatives. At first, this is highly scaffolded with teachers choosing appropriate resources giving children the best possible chance of succeeding in the lessons.

Children from all year groups are actively encouraged to use manipulatives and resources around the room. As children become confident with using a variety of manipulatives, they will be allowed to be more independent in understanding exactly what they need in order to help them. This leads
further onto children being able to solve problems in the abstract and not needing a concrete or pictorial approach.

Impact

Children will strive to achieve age related expectations across the school in Maths and make good progress each year. Teaching and planning is adapted for children not yet accessing the full curriculum by giving them scaffolds and tools that they need to achieve success in the subject.

Through pupil voices, children will be able to show a variety of strategies they can use in Maths and their focus will be on the thinking behind how they will find the answer.

Children will understand that Maths will continue to be part of lives as they navigate the outside world and should feel confident that they can rely on the skills that they have acquired to help them through this.