Intent

Maths is an essential life skill in which we at West Leigh Infants passionately believe all children can be successful.  We use the White Rose Maths scheme to shape our learning, which has been created by a group of teachers and mathematicians dedicated to developing Maths education for everyone. In our Maths lessons, our aim is not just to teach the acquisition of numerical facts and methods but also to teach a deeper understanding of the meaning and reasoning behind the ‘whys’ of Maths. In this way children can make links, spot patterns and build upon their prior knowledge to explore new and challenging concepts, secure learning and make real progress.  We use explicit teaching and a small steps approach to support children in gaining a deeper understanding of key mathematical concepts.  We want our children to experience the creativity and connectivity of Maths, both within itself and the wider areas of life.  

As a ‘Learning Without Limits’ school, we value children taking control of their learning through the self-selection of differentiated challenges and offer the opportunity (at every level) to secure fluency in arithmetic proficiency, alongside exploring reasoning and problem-solving.  Teachers carefully guide children to choose the challenge level that is right for them for each small steps lesson, monitoring their progress and providing additional support or challenge to extend their learning in the way that meets their needs best.  We want our pupils to become high quality mathematicians who are fluent in the fundamentals of maths and who can reason mathematically and solve problems.  Like White Rose, we believe that everyone can do maths!

Implementation

Here at West Leigh Infants, Maths is taught daily and focuses on a range of skills including place value, the four operations and fractions. Walking around our classrooms, you’ll see a clear progression in skills and learning.  Our lessons encourage discussion and you’ll regularly see concrete resources or pictorial representations being used. We believe that concrete, pictorial and abstract ways of teaching are equally important and you’ll see these methods being used in all of our classrooms. A range of reasoning activities and resources are used to challenge all children which gives them the opportunity to use reasoning with their understanding. Fluency is also viewed with high importance with fluency challenges regularly used. The use of Retrieval Practice is also used to help children consolidate and regularly review their previous learning, and where possible, links are made with other subjects across the curriculum.

Impact

As a result of our teaching here at West Leigh Infant School, children are engaged and challenged in Maths lessons. The regular opportunities for reasoning, problem solving and discussion means our children can confidently talk about their Maths and their learning.  Children are able to show different ways of representing their answers and ideas either through concrete resources, by using pictorial or abstract methods or through verbal reasoning.  Our children work with confidence and enjoyment knowing it is safe to make and learn from mistakes, use trial and error, and to struggle and grapple with mathematical concepts and problems.  We track and monitor our children’s learning to support their progress and then celebrate their successes in displays, certificates and assemblies.  The children are proud of their achievements and we are proud of them!