Numeracy
Introduction
“Mathematics provides a means
of communication which is powerful, concise and unambiguous,
this is the principle reason for teaching mathematics to all children”.
“Cockroft”
The basic
principle throughout our school is that the needs of individual children can be
determined from the professional judgement of the staff of specific
requirements. Mathematical skills should be taught in a context that provides
purpose and meaning, as well as in the context of explaining and appreciating
the structure of mathematics itself. It is important for teachers to engender
pupils’ confidence in their developing mathematical skills and attitudes.
Aims
Our
aim is to try to ensure that the children we teach are confident and numerate
with the ability to calculate and solve problems in a variety of mathematical
contexts. In line with the ethos of the school we aim:-
·
To teach children the
basic skills of mathematics through a daily dedicated maths lesson as
recommended by the Primary National Strategy. (PNS)
·
To teach mental
strategies to enable children to solve problems.
·
To have high
expectations and to extend children’s capabilities.
·
To identify specific
targets and involve parents and carers in the mathematical education of their
children through discussion and homework activities.
The
Sacred
The
Pupils Mathematical Experiences
There
is a requirement for considerable flexibility in the teaching and learning
styles in the identification of the needs of individual children. Colleagues
may prefer to class teach for the introduction of new concepts and choose to
address the class as a whole in the consolidation of investigative mathematics
which the children are undertaking.
It is
essential nevertheless, to have a balance between individual working and total
class participation. Working as a member of a group helps to build confidence
and encourage children to co-operate and collaborate with each other to support
and assist the learning process.
Grouping
should vary in size and ability with the objective of giving individuals the
opportunity to work with others within their peer grouping.
Children
should wherever possible, be exposed to as wide a range of mathematical
resources with the aim of developing fundamental conceptual understanding of
the topic. Visual resources such as the interactive white board, OHP,
number-lines, hundred boards and interactive classroom displays should be used
to support mathematical learning. ICT materials should be available to all
children within the school and used to engage and motivate children to enjoy
mathematics.
Pupils Mathematical Activities
Children
should be given the opportunity to experience a range of activities to generate
interest and enjoyment in mathematics and be targeted in the following areas:-
·
Knowledge, skills and
understanding in the context of practical problems.
·
Application of ideas
which are purely mathematical in nature.
·
Be inter-liked with
other subjects to allow for development over an extended period.
·
Activities should, when
and wherever possible have their roots in the children’s home environment or
evolve from questions posed in school.
·
Be personally schemed to
meet the needs of the individual or as elements of the team participation.
(The
NNS supplement of examples and unit plans provide a useful teaching resource
with which careful structuring of activities will help to facilitate all of the
above).
Mathematics Objectives
Year
1 full list of Objectives by term
Year
2 full list of Objectives by term
Year
3 full list of Objectives by term
Year
4 full list of Objectives by term
Year
5 full list of Objectives by term
Year
6 full list of Objectives by term
Recording Pupils Work
Our
aim is to establish a dialogue with children. Children are given opportunity to
discuss and evaluate their progress with their teacher, identifying individual
targets to ensure that progress is being made and monitored. Children need to
understand why it is important that they have a record of their work and that
methods of doing will vary, depending on the task.
Methods
of recording will usually take the form of the following depending on the
nature of the topic being covered:-
·
Written calculations
·
Graphs
·
Diagrams
·
Pictures
·
Constructional/models
·
ICT printouts
Children
should be encouraged to see that logical and systematic methods of working are
advantageous when trying to communicate thought processes to others. Good
presentation practices should be encouraged / developed so that pupils can take
pride in achieving a satisfactory product. Work that is poorly presented should
be pointed out to the children and positive suggestions made to encourage
improvement.
Figures
and symbols should be neat and clear, as the children will be required to record
their own work in their books or on paper. Over emphasis should be avoided, as
differing stages of development will show through in the final products of
work.
Children
should be given opportunity to complete tasks outside the numeracy lesson and
work through problem solving activities and investigations to a satisfactory
conclusion.
The
following is a suggested distribution of materials to record work throughout
the school.
Foundation
Stage
Plain paper
Topic
Books
White Boards
Key-Stage
1 and Lower Key-Stage 2 10mm squares
Worksheets
Workbooks where necessary
Upper
Key-Stage 2
7mm squares
Worksheets
The
above will depend on the ability and maturity of the children and staff should
recognise individual needs and use their professional judgement.
All
work should be undertaken in pencil and the use of coloured pencils used in
representation of diagrams and graphs. Pencils should be sharpened to ensure
accuracy in work associated with the Year 6 programme of study, specifically
angles, measures and the use of a protractor.
Marking
should be constructive and encouraging and whenever possible discussed with the
child.
Roles and Responsibilities
Each
teacher is responsible for the daily instruction of mathematics to her/his
class, and will implement fully the NPFM to ensure continuity and progression.
It is
the responsibility of each member of staff to determine her/his own
professional development needs in mathematics. Staff should read all material
pertaining to the NNS and attend relevant courses whenever necessary to develop
mathematical skills. If any individual member of staff has any concerns about
her/his mathematical development, she/he should inform the Key-Stage
Co-ordinator or the Maths Leader to arrange and attend professional development
courses.
Staff
should bring any resource needs to the attention of other members of the
key-stage, as some resources will be shared. If the resource requirement cannot
be met, staff should send their requirements, complete with order form, to the
Maths Leader.
The
Maths Leader will have the responsibility for attending any relevant in-service
courses ensuring that latest developments are communicated to staff. However,
it should be noted that all members of staff have internet access to DFES and
can update their knowledge independently as part of their on-going professional
development.
Maths
Leader will liaise with the SEN Co-ordinator to monitor the number of children
with IEP’s.
The
Recording and Assessment Co-ordinator will inform the Maths Leader of optional
SAT and statutory SAT results at the end of year. The ARR Co-ordinator will
inform the Maths Co-ordinator and staff of any whole school issues, pertaining
to mathematics as a result of the evaluation of end of year results, where
areas of weakness in subject or teaching have been identified.
The
Maths Leader will periodically collect children’s work to verify that the
policy is being implemented. Whole school issues will be fed back to the
head-teacher for discussion within the senior management team to devise
strategies to address these concerns, and for inclusion in the school’s
improvement plan.
Classroom Management
To
promote a positive approach to the teaching of mathematics, each teacher will
need to develop a variety of approaches unique to her/his teaching style.
However this should reflect the good practices demonstrated in the NNS and
lesson demonstrations by maths consultants, leading maths teachers and the
Maths Leader. A number of approaches will have to be used and consideration
given to the range of ability within the class and individual needs. Possible
groupings are listed below:-
·
Whole class
·
Ability groups supported
by an adult
·
Ability groups
·
Mixed ability groups
supported by an adult
·
Mixed ability groups
·
Friendship groups
·
Pairs
·
Individual
The
type of approach cannot be stereotyped or totally rigid in form, as the needs
of the cohort will vary enormously. All initiatives will be directed to the
common aims previously mentioned:-
·
To make pupils more
confident
·
To encourage enquiry
through questioning
·
Team participation through
co-operative and collaborative work
·
Development of
mathematical language as a means of unambiguous communication
Staff
should promote mathematics through high standards of classroom display. On going topics and cross curricular links should be evident
in the setting and mathematics given a prominent profile within the classroom.
The learning environment should reflect the high standards expected from the
pupils and display work should demonstrate how the school values pupil
contributions. Work selected for display, labels and captions should reflect
the high standards of the school and children taught how to present their work
through display. This will facilitate opportunity for discussion and dialogue
with pupils and visitors to the setting as well are providing a bright,
stimulating and motivating environment for learning.
Inclusion
To
overcome any potential barriers to learning in mathematics, some pupils may
require:-
·
Specific help with
number recall or the interpretation of data represented in graphs, tables or
bar charts, to compensate for difficulties with long or short term memory or
visual discrimination. (table squares)
·
Access to tactile,
structured equipment for work relating to shape, space and measures, to
compensate for difficulties in managing visual information.
·
Help in interpreting or
responding to oral directions when making mental calculations, to compensate
for difficulties in hearing or with auditory discrimination.
·
Access to equipment such
as ICT to overcome difficulties in thinking and working in the abstract
In
assessment when judgements against level descriptors are required, these should
where appropriate allow for the provision above.
Marking Investigative and Problem Solving Activities
It is
essential when marking practical work that evaluation is made of the
process/processes involved when arriving at the result, even when the answer is
not the correct outcome to the particular problem. Development of criteria to
suit all eventualities is difficult to establish but on a broad basis approach
the following should be considered:-
·
Has the child selected
suitable materials/equipment/resources in attempting to solve the problem?
·
Has the child used the
correct branch of mathematics to arrive at a conclusion?
·
Has the child used any
mental strategies he/she has been taught?
·
Is there any evidence
that the child made any predictions or tested any theories out in order to
arrive at the outcome?
Discussion
with the child/or group is paramount in this type of approach, as without
definitive marked assessment, considerable emphasis is placed on the subjective
evaluation of the teacher. Dialogue avails the possibility of ensuring that the
child has recorded accurately his/her attempt at solving the problem and that
this has been carried through to an effective conclusion. An evaluation should
be made and recorded without wholesale dismissal of a complete piece of work.
Our aim is to support and encourage, not de-motivate individual children
through one piece of work without establishing a dialogue to find the cause of
the problem.
Resources
Foundation,
KS1 and KS2 will review and distribute resources once a tern. Staff will have
to share resources and equipment and should monitor where within the KS
resources are stored. If equipment is damaged and needs to be replaced, this
should be brought to the attention of the Maths Leader. Each member of staff
has responsibility of checking equipment in and out and ensuring that it is in
good working order.
We
offer a range of text book resources both for pupils and an extensive resource
bank for teachers. Children of all ages should be provided with structured
apparatus to support their learning and this should be available and accessible
to every child in the classroom every day.
Children must be encouraged to be independent learners and be able to
select the appropriate equipment to solve mathematical problems and know where
to locate it within the setting. Therefore maths equipment and resources should
be clearly visible in the setting and children shown where maths equipment and
activities are stored within the KS.
Our
main source materials are:-
A variety of teacher resource books
Collins teacher resources and pupil
textbooks
Heinemann teacher resources
Impact Homework materials
ICT www sites
Maths Easiteach
Maths interactive materials
Links through the NPS for Maths
Schofield and Simms Beta Mathematics
Numerous topic
related suggested activity materials located in the PPA room
APEX Maths Problem Solving Teacher and
Pupil Books
APEX Problem Solving Software
The Use of ICT to Support Mathematics
Where
ever possible staff will avail children with the opportunity to use ICT to support
their maths. This will offer those children needing encouragement and
motivation another avenue, but will allow them to engage mathematics in an
exciting way. Most classrooms have interactive white boards and Easiteach Maths and APEX Maths have been loaded onto these.
This area of staff development is on-going and members of staff are receiving
training to support their teaching and the usage of the white board technology.
The school recognises the individual needs of its staff and will endeavour to
ensure that the staff is given the support to meet its
needs. Those in greatest need receive the greatest amount of support.
Colleagues will have opportunity through team meetings and KS meetings to share
experiences using white board technology and support each other will exchanges
of resources.
Assessment and Recording
Teacher
assessment is on-going. Staff will use
appropriate assessment material to evaluate progress and to inform planning.
Teacher assessment is vital to ensure continuity and progression and must be
totally reliable. Should there be any significant discrepancy between teacher
assessment and formal assessment results, these should be indicated on the
result printout, the teacher should annotate his/her assessment beside the test
outcome. This must happen at the end of the year, when results are passed to
the next teacher to ensure that new targets are set accurately and are a true
reflection of the child’s ability. This is the responsibility of the class
teacher. Should colleagues dispute the ability of a pupil, discussion should
take place with previous teacher and evidence of work be made available to
substantiate level of achievement .This will be in the form of exercise books
and work sheet material.
Children
who have not made satisfactory progress or who are deemed to be cause for
concern should be identified and monitored initially by the class teacher.
Intervention measures should be implemented, e.g. additional adult support in
class, peer group support, homework and parental support, clear targets set. A
copy of the names of these children should be given to the ARR Co-ordinator and
the Maths Leader as part of the monitoring policy for the school. These
children will also be tracked by the Maths Consultant and Head teacher, to ensure
that all strategies are explored and implemented to address the problem.
Foundation Stage
The
Foundation Stage pupils will follow the six areas of development as outlined in
the Foundations for Learning File and the Foundation Progression File. Their
levels of attainment and targets will be identified using Stepping Stone level
descriptors, namely, yellow, blue, green, ELG and NC Level 1 and their maths
development and progress will be recorded in these terms. Wherever possible the
maths curriculum will follow a cross curricular approach but as necessary,
specific mathematical concepts will be taught as part of their formal daily
maths lesson as the children grow and develop in skills and confidence.
We are currently running a project within school called ‘The Ocean Maths project’ and aims to make maths fun to do at home. This means that parents can help their child with numeracy in a fun way, at home. The project involves parents playing games with their child followed by a short linked task which will be returned to school for class teacher to check.
