‘Mathematics is…essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary too for financial literacy and most forms of employment…’
The New Curriculum has brought many changes to the mathematics teaching and learning at Hartley Primary Academy.
We recognise that the new curriculum is more challenging and we embrace this, in order to give our children the best possible mathematics education and foundations of the subject that they will continue to learn at secondary school.
The major difference with the new curriculum is that once children have ‘mastered’ a concept, they are then challenged through rich and sophisticated investigations before any acceleration to new content. Children of all ages and abilities will be using a range of stimulating resources and apparatus (manipulatives) alongside written methods to help improve their understanding of different concepts. Classes in the same year group will be working on the same topic, so that all children receive the same curriculum coverage. We are using ‘Inspire Maths’ to support the mastery curriculum with an emphasis on deep conceptual understanding and problem solving.
Click here to gain an insight into ‘Inspire Maths’ with some ideas of how you can help your children.
Click here to watch a short You Tube Click that explains the CPA model (Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract) also known as the CRA model (Concrete, Representational, Abstract).
Another vital part of the curriculum is mental fluency. Children need to be able to say whether it is better to use a written method or use their mental skills. One of the most important parts of mental maths is knowing their times tables. By the end of year 2, children are expected to be fluent in recalling their 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 times tables. By the end of year 3, children should be fluent in recalling all of the above, plus 6,7,8 and 9 times tables and by the end of year 4, children should be confident in recalling all their times tables up to 12×12.
Each class have a 15 minute dedicated slot to the teaching of times tables every day to support the normal maths lesson.
At Hartley, we want all children, no matter what ability, to enjoy learning maths, to make links between maths and other subjects, to be challenged and to be able to apply their mathematical knowledge to real life situations. We will strive to ensure that all children enjoy, achieve and succeed during their time with us.
“Without mathematics, there’s nothing you can do. Everything around you is mathematics. Everything around you is numbers.” Shakuntala Devi.