We believe that all children should have:
How maths is taught at Bailey’s Court
At Bailey’s Court we follow the National Curriculum which forms the basis of our long-term planning. The programme set out by the White Rose Curriculum supports our medium term planning, organising topics of maths systematically so that each term builds on prior maths knowledge and gives time for revisiting previous topics. Specific year group long-term planning can be found at the bottom of this page.
The National Curriculum requires children to be confident in both mental strategies and written methods; it covers the following areas:
Click here for the National Curriculum – Mathematics document.
In each KS2 year group, maths classes are ability-streamed into two classes. Both streamed classes follow the same long-term planning but work at their own pace reacting to the different needs to the children. It allows for more effective and efficient teaching by narrowing the range of pupil attainment in a class.
In year groups 1-6, all maths lessons start with a 15-minute warm up. In KS1, this consists of a variety of number bond and number fluency activities (following the Mastering number scheme) and arithmetic style questions. In KS2, warm ups focus on developing times table recall (using two-minute tables and step counting resources) and on arithmetic style questions.
Skills and concepts are taught through carefully planned teacher input, following an ‘I do, we do, you do’ approach. The teacher will first model the skill or concept in front of the children (I do). This is followed by collaborative examples, where the children will contribute (we do). Finally, children are asked to have a go independently (you do).
The teaching and learning of maths is supported by the use of a variety of visual and concrete resources. These include: bar models, Numicon, tens frames, five frames and Dienes apparatus.
The children then practise and apply the skills they have learnt by completing a ‘Try it, Use it and Prove it’ sequence. Children practise the skills through ‘Try it’ questions, apply the skills in different contexts in ‘Use it’ questions and demonstrate deeper understanding by explaining their reasoning in ‘Prove it’ questions. Children will self-mark their work at regular intervals, using marking stations located around the classroom. During this independent learning, the class teacher (and teaching assistant if present) will support selected groups of children. After the lesson, all books are reviewed by the class teacher and additional feedback is given in writing if needed.
All our children are encouraged to self-regulate their learning by having opportunities to pick their level of challenge in lessons. They are able to move themselves on to more challenging problems and are encouraged to identify their mistakes and misunderstandings and seek a solution to correct these. Try it A and try it B questions encourage children to select their own level of challenge. At the end of each lesson children will communicate clearly their level of confidence by adding a traffic light (red, yellow or green) to show their level of understanding and confidence with the day’s work.
For further information on maths in the EYFS, please click on the following link and look at the Implementation section:
At Bailey’s Court Primary School, we work in partnership with five other schools, as part of The Domino Alliance, to support each other in providing the very best learning opportunities for all of our pupils. As part of The Domino Alliance, the Maths Subject Leaders work together to provide a bank of resources to support parents with their children’s learning in Maths. These can be found on The Domino Alliance website by following the link below:
At Bailey’s Court, we recognise the importance of children having an excellent times table recall and understanding. In KS2, maths warm ups focus on developing times table recall using two-minute tables and step counting resources. Please use the information powerpoint for guidance on how to use two minute tables at home. Frequent, regular opportunities to do this at home are vital to ensure that your child has an excellent recall. Alongside this, we use the Multiplication Table Check website.
We encourage the use of this at home; it can be found using this link. https://www.timestables.co.uk/multiplication-tables-check/