Maths
"A new command I give you: love one another.
As I have loved you, so you must love one another," (John 13:34).
Inspired by Jesus’ example, the Trent school community aims to
serve one another in love.
We show kindness to others because God has shown us great kindness.
We live thankful lives because every good thing comes from God.
And we persevere, not giving up, because God is our helper.
Mathematics is the study of how our loving, faithful God rules the world in a loving, faithful way.
The order we observe in mathematics points us to God’s faithfulness and promise keeping; just as the rules of maths always work, so God always keeps his promises. Sometimes mathematics is complicated and hard, which provides us opportunity to practice and develop our perseverance, knowing God is our helper and shows us great kindness. This kindness allows us to be kind to ourselves and others as we study maths. We are thankful for inspirational minds which have helped us to understand maths concepts and their place in His world.
Intended Curriculum
Mathematics is important in everyday life and this will continue to be the case long after our pupils leave Trent. With this is mind, we approach maths as an opportunity to solve problems, to reason, and to think with increasing levels of logic and accuracy. Children take on the role of questioners and explorers. They learn to work practically and systematically; to understand new concepts in a concrete way. Moving from the concrete to pictorial means that, as children arrive at more abstract work, their understanding and learning is embedded in a way that is secure and can be built on. It is our aim to support children in seeing links between maths and other areas of the curriculum as much as possible.
Curriculum Delivery
At Trent, we aim to make children life-long enthusiastic maths learners in the following ways:
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Mental maths skills are reinforced in each lesson
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A concrete, picture, abstract approach is used
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Using the White Rose Maths programme as a basis, lessons are designed to systematically build on skills learned in earlier year groups and in earlier terms
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Special attention has been paid to possible misconceptions and these are planned into lessons accordingly.
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Interventions take place for groups of children needing extra input. This is flexible to accommodate those who need support for the particular lesson.
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A range of approaches are used – small group or whole class – according to subject and need.
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Homework is set to develop and review children's learning.
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Where possible, links are made with other subjects across the curriculum.
Impact
Each maths lesson has a clear objective that children are aware of and understand how to achieve. Lessons are differentiated to ensure that all children are challenged. We ensure that when assessing pupils, evidence is drawn from a wide range of sources to inform the process, including interaction with pupils during discussions and related questioning, day-to-day observations, practical activities, the gathering, presentation and communication of information and written responses. The outcomes of each lesson serve to inform the teacher’s developing picture of the knowledge and understanding of each pupil and their future planning. Outcomes are used to build an emerging picture of what the pupil knows, understands and can do.
Termly, the children’s learning is assessed in class through testing, and the data is compared to data previously collected for each child. Any issues or gaps can be quickly identified and addressed through intervention groups, class learning foci and other support as needed.
At the end of each year, we make a summative judgement about the achievement of each pupil. At this point teachers decide upon a ‘best fit’ judgement as to whether the pupil has achieved and embedded the expected learning goals, exceeded expectations or is still working towards the goals. These decisions are based on the professional knowledge and judgement that teachers possess about the progress of each pupil, developed over the previous three terms, which allows an informed and holistic judgement of attainment to be made. Achievement against the learning goals for maths at the end of the year is used as the basis of reporting progress to parents.
EYFS baseline assessments, statutory testing at the end of Year 2 and Year 6 and times tables testing in Year 4 all give extra information about the impact of our maths curriculum. These assessments are taken into account when reviewing our priorities in striving for excellence.
Mathematics is important in everyday life and this will continue to be the case long after our pupils leave Trent. With this is mind, we approach maths as an opportunity to solve problems, to reason, and to think with increasing levels of logic and accuracy. Children take on the role of questioners and explorers. They learn to work practically and systematically; to understand new concepts in a concrete way. Moving from the concrete to pictorial means that, as children arrive at more abstract work, their understanding and learning is embedded in a way that is secure and can be built on. It is our aim to support children in seeing links between maths and other areas of the curriculum as much as possible.