At Ashurst Wood Primary we take a maths mastery approach to delivering our maths curriculum.
What is the essence of teaching for mastery? (Taken from NCTEM The Essence of Mathematics Teaching for Mastery | NCETM)
Underpinning principles
- Mathematics teaching for mastery assumes everyone can learn and enjoy mathematics.
- Mathematical learning behaviours are developed such that pupils focus and engage fully as learners who reason and seek to make connections.
- Teachers continually develop their specialist knowledge for teaching mathematics, working collaboratively to refine and improve their teaching.
- Curriculum design ensures a coherent and detailed sequence of essential content to support sustained progression over time.
Lesson design
- Lesson design links to prior learning to ensure all can access the new learning and identifies carefully sequenced steps in progression to build secure understanding.
- Examples, representations and models are carefully selected to expose the structure of mathematical concepts and emphasise connections, enabling pupils to develop a deep knowledge of mathematics.
- Procedural fluency and conceptual understanding are developed in tandem because each supports the development of the other.
- It is recognised that practice is a vital part of learning, but the practice must be designed to both reinforce pupils’ procedural fluency and develop their conceptual understanding.
In the classroom
- Pupils are taught through whole-class interactive teaching, enabling all to master the concepts necessary for the next part of the curriculum sequence.
- In a typical lesson, the teacher leads back and forth interaction, including questioning, short tasks, explanation, demonstration, and discussion, enabling pupils to think, reason and apply their knowledge to solve problems.
- Use of precise mathematical language enables all pupils to communicate their reasoning and thinking effectively.
- If a pupil fails to grasp a concept or procedure, this is identified quickly, and gaps in understanding are addressed systematically to prevent them falling behind.
- Significant time is spent developing deep understanding of the key ideas that are needed to underpin future learning.
- Key number facts are learnt to automaticity, and other key mathematical facts are learned deeply and practised regularly, to avoid cognitive overload in working memory and enable pupils to focus on new learning.
What does this look like at Ashurst Wood Primary?
We have planned our maths curriculum using the NCTM's five big ideas Five Big Ideas in Teaching for Mastery | NCETM, the NCTM prioritisation materials and our understanding of our children's needs including where they might need to address any gaps from previous learning (including but not exclusively due to Covid).
As well as a carefully planned sequential curriculum we have designed the school day to facilitate single year group maths lessons and daily pre-teaching in maths.
Maths Documents
How can I help my Child at home?
As with reading, try to make Maths as much fun as possible - games, puzzles and jigsaws are a great way to start. It is also important to show how we use maths skills in our everyday lives and to involve your child in this.
Identifying problems and solving them can also help your child develop mathematical skills. If you see him or her puzzling over something, talk about the problem and try to work out the solution together.
Don't shy away from Maths if you didn't like it at School. Try to find new ways to enjoy the subject with your child.
Tips for helping your child to enjoy Maths: point out the different shapes to be found around your home, take your child shopping and talk about the quantities of anything you buy to your child handle money and work out how much things cost look together for numbers on street signs and car registration plates.
Use web sites such as Doodle maths and Times Table Rock Stars with your child at home You can find more information in our calculation leaflets which outline the strategies and methods, we use to teach the four operations in School.
These will help you support your child at home. If you have any questions about the methods, we use please talk to your child's teacher and /or attend one of the school's Maths workshops.
