At Grayshott, we believe in teaching a maths curriculum that is broad and balanced, allowing children to develop their understanding of mathematical concepts in a variety of ways. Our purpose is to build solid mathematical foundations for our children which they can utilise effectively throughout the rest of their education and adult lives.

 

Our approach to the teaching and learning of maths is based on some key principles:

• Designing rich mathematical tasks that are accessible and challenging to all children so that they see the relevance of maths in our everyday world
• An emphasis on mental calculation and teaching these strategies alongside any written methods
• Varying activities in a manageable way so that all pupils are engaged and absorbed in their learning
• Deepening children’s understanding by varying our questioning that challenges children to see a mathematical concept in several different ways
• Promoting a culture that allows children to make mistakes and acknowledge that they are part of the learning journey

 

The classrooms are stimulating learning environments. Our working walls are designed to show the children’s learning journey over a particular unit of work and may contain a mixture of:

• Real life problems to engage the children and show the relevance of the skills to the outside world
• Key vocabulary that the children will need to use through the week or the duration of the unit of work
• Examples of the skills being taught and examples of where children have been successful in applying that skill
• Common errors and misconceptions that have been addressed during the unit of work

 

Children are assessed in a variety of ways:

• through observation, questioning and children’s written work
• informal tests focusing on rapid recall of mental calculation skills;
• termly tests that measure children’s progress on what they have learnt during the year to date.