Maths at Manor Farm
At Manor Farm Junior School, our aim is to ensure that pupils are provided with the skills that they need in everyday life by helping them to become increasingly more confident when using the four operations to calculate, reason and problem solve. Teaching should ensure that pupils develop efficient methods when solving problems, both written and mental. As pupils progress through the school, they should perform calculations accurately with increasingly larger whole numbers and decimal numbers with a good understanding of place value. Pupils also have the opportunity to develop their understanding of measurement, shape and space and statistics, and to make connections between these skills and their number work. By the end of Year 4, pupils are expected to be confident with their times tables (up to 12 x 12) and, in order to do this, we use Cracking Times Tables, which the children tackle once a week. Pupils are also encouraged to recognise the relationships between multiplication tables and division facts.
A New Approach to Teaching Maths (INSPIRE Maths)
In September 2018, we introduced a mastery approach to teaching Mathematics. This new scheme is called Inspire Maths. Currently, the scheme has only been introduced to Year 3with the aim to roll the programme out as the current Year 3’s progress throughout the school. The mastery scheme aims to meet the higher expectations of the 2014 curriculum and promotes enjoyment and enthusiasm for learning through practical activity and exploration of Maths. Inspire Maths encourages children to reason and apply their knowledge to solve a range of problems. The scheme has given the children of Year 3 a ‘buzz’ for Maths and they tackle new mathematical problems with enthusiasm and excitement. Next September, both Years 3 and 4 will be following the INSPIRE scheme.
How we currently teach Maths in Years 4 – 6
The Maths skills that are taught are progressive throughout the children’s time at Manor Farm; as year after year the basic skills are built upon and developed through consolidation, reinforcement, extension and challenge, with the aim to include reasoning and problem solving approaches in order for children to think about the Maths problems in different ways.
All classes have one hour of Maths each day. We endeavour to include open-ended questioning, discussions and group work in order to develop the children’s thinking and to further develop their understanding.
How Maths is enriched
- In Years 5 and 6, Maths has been split three ways in order to make groups smaller.
- There are some morning intervention groups to target any weaknesses mathematically with groups of children targeted by their teachers.
- Planning is differentiated four or five ways to deliver more personalised learning to pupils.
- ICT is encouraged as a teaching and learning tool.
- Investigations where children must work independently to further their understanding.
- We enter Maths competitions, such as Explore Learning Maths and the Primary Maths Challenges.
- Cracking Times Tables to promote learning of Multiplication tables and related division facts.
- We hold a Maths Day each year to encourage our pupils to experience Maths in a variety of different ways e.g. through murder mysteries, Maths relays and independent investigations. We have also invited visitors to enrich the children’s experience of maths. In the summer of 2018, we were visited by The Problem Solving Company, who provided opportunities for the pupils to explore and solve mathematical problems as a team. The children had such a lot of fun!
