St Augustine's Catholic Primary

INTENT

At St Augustine’s our aim is to develop motivated and confident children whom are resilient in mathematics. We follow the National Curriculum in delivering our instruction through the Power Maths scheme. This inclusive approach of teaching maths for mastery with an emphasis on thinking deeply about maths allows for more children to have a secure understanding of mathematical concepts thus allowing them to gain proficiency.

As a school community, it is our intent to provide a maths curriculum which allows our children to:

Engage in mathematical thinking daily
Receive daily instruction which is systematic and clear
Work in an environment which is conducive to learning
Make progress
Make connections day to day, class to class and year to year
Communicate their understanding (and sometimes misunderstanding) through written and verbal tasks in whole group, small group and independent work
Develop their declarative (I know that), procedural (I know how) and conditional knowledge (I know when) and achieve success through continued practice and opportunities for overlearning
Be challenged, no matter the ability of the child
Do maths with their parents and carers
Be motivated as learners

IMPLEMENTATION

We believe that all children should be given the opportunity to explore a task and find patterns, make connections and engage in discourse and develop knowledge of facts, formulae, methods and strategies. This begins in EYFS as we ensure that maths is part of children’s daily diet. We give the children a wide range of experiences and opportunities to apply their mathematics including have children draw their maths and work with different representations. During our maths time, through Power Maths lessons and additional fluency lessons, teachers plan for and deliver teaching that has an appropriate balance of exploration in small groups, direct teaching and independent work.

How does maths look at St Augustine’s?

Engage in mathematical thinking daily

Children start each Power Maths lesson with a discover question, in which they have opportunities to explore, question themselves and each other, work systematically, visualise, explain their understanding, make generalisations and justify their approach. During the exploration part of the lesson, teachers facilitate the learning through prompts, specific questioning and providing specific structures as needed.
The ConcretePictorial-Abstract approach is embedded in our maths lessons, encouraging all children to internalise knowledge to a greater degree.
At St Augustine’s, another important aspect to our maths lessons that allow to children to show their ability to think mathematically, is Journaling. Children complete journals around the “Discover” question around twice a week (according to the lessons taught.) The structure of the journal encourages children to identify the question being asked, show multiple ways of approaching the answer, explain their understanding and write an answer sentence that clearly answers what is being asked.

Receive daily instruction which is systematic and clear

Teachers have access to Teacher Guides, videos and various resources to aid in their planning and delivery of lessons.
Teachers use the calculation policies to ensure methods are consistent specifically when some may be different than those presented in the Power Maths curriculum.
When appropriate, teachers implement silent modelling, using thinking and guided modelling too, to ensure that children are able to focus on a specific procedure without cognitive overload.
Teachers model the correct use of maths language and ensure that children practice using maths vocabulary too.
Teachers receive CPD throughout the year to share best practices for teaching maths that are then applied in their classrooms.

Work in an environment which is conducive to learning

Children in maths classes at St Augustine’s are happy to take risks as learners and share their thoughts as they know that all maths talk is valued.
There is a balance of whole class teaching, partner work, small group work as well as a time for independent work. During independent work, children are expected to work quietly.
Children recognise that we all have different gifts and talents, strengths and weakness. Children respect that sometimes others or themselves may need additional help through the form of small group instruction or interventions.
Due to the common structure of lessons of maths across the school, children know what is expected of them in maths lessons and behave well in maths lessons.
All children are held to high standards for behaviour as well as work, including presentation.

Make progress

Through quality first teaching, all children are expected to make progress, regardless of their starting point.
Each lesson embraces the CPA approach (Concrete Pictorial - Abstract) enabling children of all levels to build on prior learning, see patterns and make connections
The practice books provide questions that vary in one small element to move children on in their thinking. They are suitable for most children but we recognise at St Augustine’s that some pupils may need extra help to access this whereas others may benefit from an extension activity.
To ensure progress is made by all children, maths interventions are planned based on needs noted in class as well as those on our formal assessments. Most interventions are led by teaching assistants, which is why they are present for maths CPD sessions and receive coaching when needed.
Teachers meet with members of SLT each term to discuss maths progress of all children. During these meetings teachers discuss the impact of previous interventions and any specific concerns.
Teachers use QLAs to identify strands that may be weak for all children and address these in whole class teaching.
Children in KS1 complete weekly target tests on Number Bonds and children in KS2 complete weekly target tests on time tables. Their progress is recorded and tracked by teachers. Each year the target trackers move on to the next teacher. The children’s targets are also recorded in their reading diaries so that parents are made aware of their current targets.

Make connections day to day, class to class and year to year

Power Maths’ cohesive approach builds on each concept in small, progressive steps, enabling children to build on prior learning.
Because all teachers follow the Power Maths curriculum, teachers have a clear understanding of methods that children have been taught and can build on these.
Teachers are able to access online materials and teacher guides from all year groups, allowing them to further see what has been covered and will be covered in other year groups. This is in addition to shared progression maps.
Fluency sessions and set homework provide a spiral review of the content throughout the year.
The 202223 Year 6 teacher is a member of the NCETM Year 5-8 continuity group, and recognises that the transition to Key Stage 3 is vital. The Year 6 teacher works closely with the Year 5 team as well as the HCMAC Secondary lead.
Children are encouraged to apply their understanding of maths in real world situations that arise across the curriculum, such as in D&T, PSHE and Science.
There is a focus on developing data handling skills in Science lessons as well as interpreting graphs, tables and charts.
Children participate in the Fiver Challenge, whether it be as a vendor or customer, and learn about being sensible with money, linking to PSHE.

Communicate their understanding (and sometimes misunderstanding) through written and verbal tasks in whole group, small group and independent work

-During the “Discover” part of the lesson in which children work with a partner, they are expected to explain their thoughts as they work and question each other accordingly. They are encouraged to show their understanding in a variety of ways, or methods, and look for connections between the methods.

-While sharing as a whole group, mistakes are treated as an opportunity to learn.

-All independent work, but especially journals and the Reflect tasks, allow teachers to identify children that may have misconceptions or have difficulties communicating their understanding in a written manner.

-By the teacher writing VF on a child’s piece of work, the child then knows that they are to receive verbal feedback and that the teacher may have spotted a misconception or has something specific to note about the piece of work or problem.

Develop their declarative (I know that), procedural (I know how) and conditional knowledge (I know when) and achieve success through continued practice and opportunities for overlearning

During the maths lesson, opportunities are created by the teacher to provide small group support to those that may need additional teaching. This may be delivered by the teaching assistant or teacher. In response to this additional teaching, it is hoped that children can then work independently on the task given to them.
Fluency sessions include reviewing children’s PALs, which are completed each morning. The PAL stands for Practice and Learn, and includes a set of problems for 12 weeks which vary only slightly, allowing children repeated practice. An example of a PAL is below:

On the back of each PAL, there are “assessment” like problems which allow children to be exposed to a variety of structures of problems.
EYFS and Key Stage 1 have begun their first year of the Mastering Number Programme, which aims to secure firm foundations in the development of good number sense for all children.

Be challenged, no matter the ability of the child

- At St Augustine’s, we recognise that the Discover questions in the Power Maths books aren’t always challenging to all. In order to ensure that all of our children are motivated and able to develop their mathematical thinking, teachers provide a related question for children to think more deeply about.

-Children that complete their independent work have extension tasks which encourage mathematical reasoning.

-While planning, teachers consider those children that may have difficulty accessing the lesson, and plan suitable alternate activities if needed. These activities are aimed to provide children with scaffolds, opportunities to overlearn or opportunities to further work with concrete material so that they can still show their understanding through independent practice and be challenged at an appropriate level.

-Target tests, taken in KS1 and KS2, allow children to progress according to their own individual successes.

Do maths with their parents, carers and the wider HCMAC community

-Spring and Summer Term maths parent afternoons for each year group are planned for the 2022-23 school year as we recognise parental involvement has dropped since COVID. During the meetings, parents will join their children and engage in a variety of age appropriate games that can be done at home which build fluency skills.

-Our St Augustine’s website includes calculation policies, target test examples, progression maps and suggested websites for our parents and carers to access to help their children.

-In years 1-6, children are each provided with a CGP 10-minute weekly workout book. Each week they have a workout to complete for home. Although this was originally implemented as part of our catch-up plan for COVID, we noticed that children were keen to complete the assignments and it was one way of allowing parents to further participate in maths with their children. As these are usually reviewed together as a class, it allows for a spiral review and some pre-teaching/exposure to new learning.

-Children in Key Stage 2 are set garage games on TT Rock Stars to complete each week and those in EYFS and Key Stage 1 are encouraged to play NumBots. Those in years 3,4 and 5 have their garage games set according to their maths target for times tables. This allows parents and children alike to truly know their target and practice it each week.

-Parents and carers are provided with termly report cards which indicate a child’s current level in maths as well as their level of effort in class and homework.

-TT Rock Star competitions, both throughout the school and the MAC, are held to keep children engaged in TTRS.

-A selected group of Year 4 children will join other primary children from the HCMAC to engage in maths tasks.

IMPACT

At St Augustine’s we measure impact through a variety of ways, such as, Baseline assessments in Reception, PIXL termly assessments in KS1 and KS2, informal assessments (including daily marking, PALs and target tests), maths work scrutiny (including workbooks, journals, fluency books and homework,) formal observations of lessons, walk-throughs of maths teaching and interventions, pupil voice, staff voice and parent voice.

The Pupil Premium gap for ARE in RWM is closing in KS2, and is far below the National Average.
Maths progress in KS2 is significantly above the National Average.
Those ARE in Maths at the end of KS2 is higher than the National Average.
Termly assessments, which are across the MAC, allow class teachers and subject leaders to use the data to look at and discuss individual children as well cohorts of children, with some trends being noted across multiple schools.
Pupil progress meetings show that teachers have an understanding of gaps and plan opportunities to fill these gaps through quality first teaching and interventions.
Scrutiny of maths workbooks show that children are accessing the work given to them and have opportunities to show a greater understanding. Maths journals show that children are confident in explaining their understanding and showing this understanding in multiple ways.
A sample of work from termly assessments show that children of multiple subgroups are applying learnt problem solving strategies independently and away from learning.
Formal and informal observations of maths teaching show that most teachers are confidence with the mastery approach.
Walkthroughs during maths lesson show that children are engaged, have positive attitudes towards maths and know what they are expected to do in maths lessons.
EYFS and Year 1 teachers using the Mastering Number Programme report that children are applying learnt skills into their maths lessons.
Awareness of maths in everyday life and other disciplines is increasing.
Pupil voice shows that of the selection of Pupil Premium children polled across Y1- Y6, that they generally rate maths as 4/5:
Pupil voice shows that of the selection of Pupil Premium children polled across Y1- Y6, most are see themselves as getting better at maths:

Engagement of home learning, specifically CGP books, has increased. Parents and children have also provided positive feedback in response to CGP homework.

Curriculum

Admissions

Nursery