At Parkway, we want our children to be confident, fluent mathematicians who have a positive attitude towards problem solving. We teach maths for mastery. This means that we are teaching children to have a deep conceptual understanding rather than teaching so that children can get a correct answer. Being able to explain how they got an answer, why that answer is correct, and what might happen if a particular variable was changed are the hallmarks of a mathematician – simply getting the answer right ought to be a given. We believe that all children can succeed mathematically, and that one of our primary tasks as teachers is to find ways of presenting, scaffolding, and teaching concepts in such a way that everyone will achieve.
Implementation: What does Maths look like at Parkway Primary?
At Parkway Primary, we teach maths in units following the Maths No-problem scheme. The units are ordered to build upon each other, usually spending a few weeks on each topic. We aim to develop children’s understanding using the CPA approach which builds on children;s existing knowledge by introducing abstract concepts in a concrete and tangible way. The CPA approach moves from the Concrete (actual physical manifestation of the maths), on to the Pictorial (being able to approach the maths using pictures rather than physical resources), and finally onto the Abstract (being able to approach mathematics without physical or pictorial resources).
Typical Daily Lesson
Individual teachers have individual styles, different classes have different needs. At the start of the year, Year 1 teachers will find that they need more time for the task, however, a typical Maths No-problem lesson at Parkway should consist of these elements:
Assessment
In lessons we use formative assessment to help decide on what we should do next with the children and the progress they are making. This allows us to understand how to support and extend our children appropriately. Teachers recognise the difference between performance and learning and understand that pupil performance in the lesson today does not necessarily translate into the type of learning that will be evident tomorrow. As a result, PiXL assessments are used to enable all staff (both Teachers and ISA) to regularly assess what learning has been retained by the children over longer periods of time. This also provides children with the regular opportunity of retrieving information from memory. Alongside, our daily ‘Maths meeting’ which allows the children to apply retrieved information from previous units.
Please click to the link below to see how our Mathematics teaching progresses throughout each year group.