Mathematics
Mathematics is a creative and highly inter-connected discipline that has been developed over centuries. It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. At Halterworth, through the teaching of mathematics, we promote the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.
Our approach to teaching and learning in mathematics is underpinned by the Mastery view supported by the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) and, more locally, the Solent Maths Hub. Our vision is that pupils build on solid foundations and develop a deep understanding of the mathematical structures they are learning alongside the ability to reason and justify.
At Halterworth, we utilise Power Maths' curriculum mapping, ensuring that teaching is sequenced into small manageable steps in order to help children to develop a deep, secure understanding of key concepts and skills. When introducing new concepts, we carefully consider which representations and models are used in order to embed understanding and build competency. We provide plenty of opportunities to build reasoning and problem- solving elements into the curriculum whilst also focusing on developing pupils’ fluency.
The Five Big Ideas of Mastery (fluency, variation, coherence, mathematical thinking and representation and structure) help children to focus on making connections between their understanding and to utilise the connections and relationships between different areas of maths. Our aim is for children to become more fluent by choosing efficient methods and considering the best starting place or method before answering a question. Variation is important in making sure that children are able to apply their knowledge because of a depth of understanding as opposed to relying on procedural knowledge. Being exposed to a variety of representations helps children to see the structure behind the maths giving them deep knowledge on which to build on.
