Mathematics

The Intent of Maths at Kirkburton First School

“Maths is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. A high-quality mathematics education therefore provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.”

Primary National Curriculum 2014

At Kirkburton First School, we believe in 'maths success for all'. Maths is a far reaching subject with transferable skills across the whole curriculum: from art to geography.

Alongside developing a love, enthusiasm and curiosity of maths, at Kirkburton we strive to equip children with foundational knowledge in fluency, application and reasoning within the subject. We work practically and pictorially in all classes to break down our maths work into simple steps and to ensure understanding and success for all.

Learning together is an essential value in our maths lessons. Discussion with partners, groups and the whole class is an essential part of our maths teaching, where all pupils' views, thoughts and ideas are valued. Through this discussion, we see children develop clear communication and explanation skills - such an important skill not just in maths, but in life.

The Implementation of Maths at Kirkburton First School

At Kirkburton CE First School, we have created our own schemes of learning for each year group which are directly based on the knowledge and skills laid out in the 2014 National Curriculum.

We believe that it is imperative that core Foundational Knowledge is taught and secured to give children the building blocks to be successful in the future. This has had a direct impact on how we teach Mathematics at Kirkbruton.

Monday Arithmetic

Each Monday, pupils re-visit and secure previous learning around arithmetic. The content of these lessons isn't 'new learning' but a chance to consolidate previously taught ideas and concepts so as to successfully master them.

This means that, at the start of the year, these lessons purely focus on arithmetic foundational knowledge taught in the previous academic year, with new content being added to these lessons once it has been taught in the 'New Knowledge' maths lessons.

New Knowledge

Tuesday to Friday maths lessons are for the teaching of new knowledge and skills, in line with the 2014 National Curriculum. We have structured these lessons so that most nuggets of knowledge should be revisited twice throughout the academic year.

Flashbacks

Each and every Maths lessons begins with a Maths 'Flashback' to previously taught knowledge. These take around five minutes to complete and help to ensure that learning is remembered and can be retrieved. The topics for these flashbacks are carefully planned based on the content being taught in 'New Knowledge', and children will use the same knowledge in these 'Flashbacks' for the whole week, to help them fully secure it.

Maths Schemes of Learning

Multiplication Tables Check

All children in Year 4 across the Country are required to complete the multiplication Tables Check, to assess their master of the multiplication facts up to and including 12x12.

We plan the teaching of the foundational knowledge for this assessment, starting in the Early Years.

Early Years	Subitising. Number Bonds to 10
Year 1	Number Bonds to 20, Number facts within 20.
Year 2	2x, 5x and 10x Multiplication Tables
Year 3	3x, 4x and 8x Multiplication Tables
Year 4	All Multiplication Tables to 12x
Year 5	Multiplication Tables and Division Facts to 12x

The children also access the TTRockstars app to help secure this foundation knowledge, both at home and at school through use in lessons and in the before-school TTRockstars Club. For more details, please click here.

The Impact of Maths at Kirkburton CE First School

Children leave Kirkbuton as competent mathematicians. Book scrutinies and pupil voices show that children are able to articulate what they have learnt and how to use foundational knowledge to complete arithmetic questions and also how to apply this knowledge to reasoning questions and word problems.