Gildersome Primary School

Mathematics

intent

Mathematics teaches us how to make sense of the world around us through developing a child’s ability to calculate fluently, to reason and to solve problems. It enables children to understand and appreciate relationships and pattern in their everyday lives. At our school, we aim to develop strong, confident Mathematicians who are have a ‘can do’ attitude to Mathematics. We strongly believe in our unique Mastery approach we have devised to meet the specific needs of our children so that ALL children will succeed.

At Gildersome Primary School we aim to:

promote enjoyment and enthusiasm for learning through practical activity, exploration and discussion
promote confidence and competence with numbers and the number system
develop the ability to solve problems through decision-making and reasoning in a range of context
develop a practical understanding of the ways in which information is gathered and presented
explore features of shape and space, and develop measuring skills in a range of contexts
understand the importance of mathematics in everyday life
promote a love of Mathematics!

year overview

Fluency

The national curriculum for mathematics aims to ensure that all pupils:

become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately. National Curriculum (2014)

It is vital for children to have a solid, embedded understanding of their Maths Facts and be able to retrieve this knowledge quickly and accurately from their memory. They are the key to being able to tackle more difficult Mathematics and unlock understanding. If children do not have these facts to hand, it can become a huge barrier to them as they move through their education. In the Parent/Carer Guidance section further down this page you can find specific guidance on what your child needs to know by the end of their year group.

What our children say about Mathematics at Gildersome PrimarY School

To help our children in embedding their Maths Facts we have online subscriptions to Numbots and Times Tables Rock Stars. The children begin by using Numbots to embed their number bonds, subitising and counting strategies before moving on to Times Table Rock Stars to master all their times tables and related division facts. They both work on a similar premise that the children collect coins and complete levels to progress in developing their avatar, either a robot or a rock star.

All children from Reception have access to these platforms and every week we celebrate the most active and most improved children in our Celebration Assemblies. You can also find all this information on our ‘Hall of Fame’ display in school and on our Maths Blog on the website.

The children below have mastered all their Maths Facts and have reached ‘Rock Hero’ Status on Times Tables Rock Stars.

reasoning and problem solving

'The national curriculum for mathematics aims to ensure that all pupils:

reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language
can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and nonroutine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.’ National Curriculum (2014)

We encourage lots of talk in our Mathematics lessons. Vocabulary is such a key element to understanding Mathematics securely. Further down this page, in the Parent/Carer Guidance section, you will find specific guidance on the terminology your child should understand fully by the end of their specific group. We use a range of sentence starters and STEM sentences to support our children with their Reasoning and Problem-Solving, here are some of them.

As a school, we use the ‘FISH’ mantra to support our children with problem-solving. This four-step approach means there is a consistent language being used across the school and breaks down to process for our children.