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William Patten Primary School
Stoke Newington Church Street
London N16 0NX
Office Manager: Rita Quigley
SENDCo: Caitlin Shaw

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020 7254 4014

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William Patten Primary School

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Maths Curriculum Statement

Intent
The 2014 National Curriculum for Maths aims to ensure that all children:

  • Become fluent in the fundamentals of Mathematics
  • Are able to reason mathematically
  • Can solve problems by applying their Mathematics

At William Patten, these skills are embedded within Maths lessons and developed
consistently over time. We are committed to ensuring that children are able to recognise the importance of Maths in the wider world and that they are also able to use their mathematical skills and knowledge confidently in their lives in a range of different contexts.
We want all children to enjoy Mathematics and to experience success in the subject, with the ability to reason mathematically. We are committed to developing children’s curiosity about
the subject, as well as an appreciation of the beauty and power of Mathematics.

Implementation

The content and principles underpinning the 2014 Mathematics curriculum and the Maths
curriculum at William Patten reflect those found in high-performing education systems
internationally, particularly those of east and south-east Asian countries such as Singapore,
Japan, South Korea and China. These principles and features characterise this approach
and convey how our curriculum is implemented:

  • Teachers reinforce an expectation that all children are capable of achieving high standards in Mathematics.
  • The large majority of children progress through the curriculum content at the same pace; Significant time is spent developing deep knowledge of the key ideas that are needed to underpin future learning. This ensures that all can master concepts before moving to the next part of the curriculum sequence, allowing no pupil to be left behind.
  • The structure and connections within the mathematics are emphasised, so that pupils develop deep learning that can be sustained.
  • Lesson design identifies the new mathematics that is to be taught, the key points, the difficult points and a carefully sequenced journey through the learning. In a typical lesson pupils sit facing the teacher and the teacher leads back and forth interaction, including questioning, short tasks, explanation, demonstration, and discussion.
  • Practice and consolidation play a central role. Carefully designed variation within this builds fluency and understanding of underlying mathematical concepts.
  • Teachers use precise questioning in class to test conceptual and procedural knowledge and assess children regularly to identify those requiring intervention, so that all children keep up.
  • Children’s explanations and their proficiency in articulating mathematical reasoning, with the precise use of mathematical vocabulary, are supported through the use of stem sentences and generalisations provided by the teacher. These help the children to make connections and expose the structure of the maths.

Stem sentence example:
Greater or Smaller?
o The greater the numerator is in a set of fractions with the same denominator, the
_____ the fraction.
o The higher the denominator of a unit fraction, the ______ the fraction.
Generalisation example:
o The length of one side of the square can be found by dividing its perimeter by 4.
 Key facts, such as multiplication tables and addition facts within 10, are learnt to
automaticity to avoid cognitive overload in the working memory and enable pupils to
focus on new concepts.

https://www.ncetm.org.uk/media/uhjhtxy1/the-essence-of-maths-teaching-for-mastery-june-2016.pdf

To ensure whole consistency and progression, the school uses the nationally recognised
White Rose Maths scheme. The White Rose curriculum is a cumulative curriculum, so that
once a topic is covered, it is met many times again in other contexts. For example, place
value is revisited in addition and subtraction and multiplication and division. The curriculum
recognises the importance of children’s conceptual understanding of number. It is therefore
designed to ensure that time is invested in reinforcing this to build competency.
Lessons are planned to provide plenty of opportunities to build reasoning and problem
solving elements into the curriculum. When introduced to a new concept, children have the
opportunity to use concrete objects and manipulatives to help them understand what they
are doing. Alongside this, children are encouraged to use pictorial representations. These
representations can then be used to help reason and solve problems. Both concrete and
pictorial representations support children’s understanding of abstract methods.
Mathematical topics are taught in blocks, to enable the achievement of ‘mastery’ over time.
These teaching blocks are broken down into smaller steps, to help children understand
concepts better. This approach means that children do not cover too many concepts at once
which can lead to cognitive overload. Please see the White Rose progression documented,
adopted by the school, for more information on this:

https://www.williampatten.hackney.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Y1-6-White-Rose-Maths-National-Curriculum-Progression.pdf
Each lesson phase provides the means for children to achieve greater depth, with children
who are quick to grasp new content, being offered rich and sophisticated problems, within
the lesson as appropriate.
The school’s status as a mastery specialist school, as part of the DfE funded Maths Hubs
programme, continues to ensure that staff at all levels understand the pedagogy of the
approach. This is further explained in section 2.

Impact

The school has a supportive ethos and our approaches supports the children in developing
their collaborative and independent skills, as well as empathy and the need to recognise the
achievement of others. Students can underperform in Mathematics because they think they cannot do it or are not naturally good at it. The school’s use of White Rose Maths addresses these preconceptions by ensuring that all children experience challenge and success in Mathematics by developing a growth mindset.
Regular and ongoing assessment informs teaching, as well as intervention, to support and
enable the success of each child. These factors ensure that we are able to maintain high
standards, with achievement at the end of KS2 well above the national average, as well an
increasingly high proportion of children demonstrating greater depth, at the end of each
phase.
A review of the teaching of maths at the school, carried out by Mastery Specialists from the
London North East and London Thames Maths Hubs in January 2020, noted the following in
their report on the teaching of mastery at the school –
‘During discussions with pupils, children were unanimously positive about Maths. Challenge
and resilience were a key theme of discussions, with many of the children saying that
working on difficult problems, not giving up and challenging themselves were their favourite
parts of their Maths lessons at school. They were confident, engaged and talked
passionately about the things that helped them learn Mathematics. All children commented
on the use of concrete resources and visual representations as ways to help them learn.
They also referenced drawing their ideas, working with their peers and practising as
important parts of their learning experience.’
Having become a mastery specialist school with the London North East Maths Hub, the
school is now supporting a network of local schools within this network. Participants will take
part in lesson studies at William Patten, as part of the recognised ‘Sustaining Teaching for
Mastery’ programme, throughout 2022-23. Teachers at the school also take part in the
professional development programme and the school will continue to benefit from the
subject leaders continue participation in central training from the National Centre for
Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics.

Link to Maths Policy:

Supporting your Child at Home

In line with the Department for Education’s Maths Guidance for KS1 and KS2 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1017683/Maths_guidance_KS_1_and_2.pdf, the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) have identified the most important conceptual knowledge and understanding that pupils need as they progress from year 1 to year 6. These important concepts are referred to as ready-to-progress criteria and they are organised under the following strands:

  • Place Value
  • Number Facts
  • Addition and Subtraction
  • Multiplication & Division
  • Geometry
  • Fractions (In KS2)

On return to school from the national lockdowns, the school prioritised the teaching of this ‘key’ content and it continues to inform our planning, as well as targeted interventions.  In line with the White Rose Maths Scheme, we have collated the WRM ‘Parent Workbooks’ for each year group which include the majority of the key content for your child’s year group.  These can be used for any additional support in maths that you might like to do at home with your child –

Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5 (part 1)
Year 5 (part 2)
Year 6

The printed copy of the above resources are available on request.

Sumdog

To further support your child’s number fluency, they can access to the Sumdog resource at home.  Sumdog is an online learning tool which provides personalised maths practice that children love. It adapts questions to each child, using engaging games to build their confidence, and it’s been shown to accelerate progress.  Sumdog helps children to practise regularly, combining questions from the curriculum with fun, child-friendly games.  It is most beneficial when used regularly for short periods.  Sumdog can be accessed on a computer, mobile or tablet at the following link:

https://www.sumdog.com/en/

All children have been provided with a unique username and password.  Please let the school know if you would like another copy of your child’s login details.