Maths

Sir Thomas Abney aims to be maths-rich where children are immersed in concepts and language of mathematics from an early age and where they are supported throughout their journey to become confident and resilient mathematicians.

Mathematics Mastery

In Early Years, children are encouraged to think and talk mathematically through play – learning key concepts such as numbers, shapes and measure.

As children enter Year One the school follows a programme called Mathematics Mastery which continues to Year 6. This scheme, which follows the National Curriculum, is based on the Shanghai and Singapore methods of maths teaching. Children are encouraged to physically represent mathematical concepts to demonstrate and visualise abstract ideas alongside numbers and symbols. They learn to talk about maths, using maths language and explore concepts through problem-solving. This enriches and deepens their understanding.

Mathematics lessons are taught based on Mathematics Mastery key principles:

• High expectations – we believe that no child should be left behind – giving space and support for children to catch up and fill gaps in their knowledge and making them confident and resilient mathematicians.
• Growth Mindset – we believe that a child’s mathematical ability is not fixed. Every child can be encouraged and supported to achieve and to develop a real love of mathematics;
• Mathematical language – the way children speak about mathematics reflects the depth and understanding of a concept. Children at Sir Thomas Abney are taught to speak about mathematics using the correct language and using full sentences;
• Mathematical problem-solving – we believe children should be encouraged to apply their new- found skills, make connections to existing skills and apply them to real life mathematical problems;
• Concrete, pictorial, abstract – our maths lessons use objects and pictures to support mathematical learning alongside numbers and symbols. This helps children to deepen their understanding of their maths learning;
• Depth before breadth – Sir Thomas Abney supports the belief that children need time to explore and practice new concepts before being rushed into new topics. Children are set challenges every week where they must use their new skills to solve problems that extend and deepen their thinking.
• Visit the Mathematics Mastery website
• View the Maths Curriculum Programmes of Study as set out by the National Curriculum
• To learn more about what the children will learn in each year group, visit the year group pages of the website.
• To learn more about how calculations are taught in each year group, please click here.
• The key maths language your child will be using each year can be found here – Vocabulary List Reception to Year 6

Mathletics

Every child in Years 1-6 is given access to an on-line learning resource called Mathletics for completion of class and homework tasks. On this engaging website children can practice times tables, reinforce new learning from their maths lessons or challenge other students from around the world. Children earn points which lead to weakly certificates.

Visit the Mathletics website

Parental Involvement

We cannot succeed in delivering outstanding mathematics learning without the support and engagement of parents. Meetings for parents in each year group, explaining the Mathematics Curriculum and Mathematics Mastery are held in September. Children in Year 1 are encouraged to record maths that they do at home and a maths library enables the children to borrow games weekly to play at home with family members. Children in all year groups receive weekly mathematics homework and we encourage parents to help their children with this as well as with their times tables practice.