Mathematics

Mathematics Curriculum Intent

We want children to recognise that Mathematics is a creative and highly inter-connected discipline that has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems. We want them to know that it is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. We intend for our children to have a solid foundation for understanding the world, have the ability to reason mathematically, have an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.

Our intent is to design a curriculum that is accessible to all and will maximise the development of every child’s ability.  At Chudleigh Knighton we embrace the Mastery approach to teaching mathematics, enabling children to make rich connections across mathematical ideas to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and problem-solving skills.

We aim to focus on developing fluency in basic skills throughout the school through varied and frequent practise allowing recall and application of knowledge rapidly and accurately in a variety of situations and subjects.

Reasoning mathematically will stem from a development of mathematical vocabulary that enables the children to follow and explain lines of enquiries, developing and justifying arguments and proofs.

We intend to embed competency in solving increasingly sophisticated problems using a wide range of mathematical resources where pupils are taught to show their workings in a concrete fashion, before establishing ways of pictorially and formally representing their understanding. Children will be taught to break problems into smaller steps and develop resilience and acceptance that struggle is often a necessary step in learning.

Students who grasp concepts rapidly will be challenged through being offered rich and sophisticated problems before any acceleration through new content. Those who are not sufficiently fluent with earlier material will consolidate their understanding, including through additional practice, before moving on.

Impact of Curriculum

At the end of their mathematical education in this school, we expect students to:

• Perform basic numeracy skills fluently

• Understand the mathematics likely to be encountered in daily life

• Reason clearly and logically, and to set out rational arguments

• Identify patterns encountered in diverse situations and to make inferences from these

• Approach problems systematically and choose appropriate techniques for their solution

• Experience satisfaction in and enjoyment of mathematical experiences and achievements

• Develop fluency in performing key mathematical skills so they become second nature.

• Reason mathematically, think logically and flexibly to develop sound mathematical arguments.

The Ready to Progress guidance identifies the core learning that children must have in each year group. This is assessed throughout the year at the end of relevant units of learning.

Prior learning is continually revisited through retrieval practice questions and assessed prior to the start of a new unit to ensure children are secure in the prerequisite skills.