Helping your child at home with maths

Our school provides an imaginative and stimulating mathematics curriculum (in line with the aims of the National Curriculum September 2014), which prepares young people for functioning effectively in their everyday lives. To achieve this we believe it is paramount to develop pupils’ ability to reason mathematically. Problem solving, one of our focuses for this year, and investigative approaches are central to developing pupil’s reasoning; therefore they are embedded throughout our curriculum. Children are encouraged to talk about their maths, to ask questions, to communicate maths in different ways, to decide on the appropriateness of different methods and to adapt methods when necessary. Pupils are encouraged to view their mistakes in a positive light as they allow misconceptions to be discussed and addressed resulting in a deeper understanding of concepts.

Models and representations (physical objects e.g. Numicon and pictures e.g. number lines) are used on a regular basis in our teaching as these develop pupils’ conceptual understanding and consequently their fluency and ability to apply their maths in various situations. As a school, we aim to build the children’s confidence and fluency in performing mental and written calculations as well as an ability to use maths language and symbols accurately. Our Calculations Policy which was developed by the Maths Subject Leaders from the KES cluster, provides further details about which methods we teach at the school and the reasoning behind them.

This year we aim to focus on our times tables through using our new scheme of Tackling Tables which allows our pupils to see the power of number relationships, rather than times tables in isolation. We have found it is a fun and effective way to help them learn multiplication and the corresponding division facts “off by heart”. You can order home packs of these Tackling Tables cards from the school office.

The skills learnt in maths lessons are built upon in other areas of the curriculum which helps pupils appreciate how the subject is used in everyday situations and makes learning more purposeful. We also aim to enhance pupil’s mathematical experiences by working closely with the parents. Parents are provided with a Calculations booklet so that they can build on the learning at school. This year we are planning further opportunities to involve and support parents through a Calculations workshop and mornings in the Maths classroom, for parents.

We have adopted an aspirational approach to the teaching of maths. Therefore, we aim to provide a stimulating environment where all learners are offered the same opportunities and challenges. So, the pupils can choose their own level of challenge. This, we believe, enables pupils to reach their full potential.

Assessment in maths is designed to ensure learning is meaningful and to improve pupil’s progress. We use ‘close the gap’ marking to inform pupils about their successes against the learning intention but also the improvement needed. Pupils are given a task to ‘close the gap’ between what they have achieved and what they could have achieved. If pupils have met the learning intention, a brief extension activity is given to deepen their understanding. Pupils are also given opportunities to self-assess and peer assess their work against agreed success criteria.

Maths yearly overviews

Helping your child at home with maths

Advice for Parents from Professor Jo Boaler.pdf

One of the most common questions we've been asked over the years at Parents' Evening is:

'How can I help my child with their maths at home?' Many of you seem to be worried that you will teach your children the 'wrong' way of calculating because the strategies we use today are in many cases different and slightly alien to those that many of you were taught at school. Therefore, w'll be giving examples of our calculation methods on this page along with useful leaflets, websites and APPs to help make learning maths at home fun and stress free.

Based on extensive research, we have two top tips for you all; these, we can't guarantee will make your child an amazing mathematician, but we can say will provide them with a platform to success.

Top Tip 1: Tell your children they are good at maths.

Top Tip 2: Pretend you love maths (even if you hated maths at school yourself!)

I've added some more invaluable tips from Professor Jo Boaler in the document above.

Quick Guide to Calculation Strategies