Maths

Intent

At Elements Academy the Mathematics curriculum is designed so that all pupils receive a high-quality, relevant mathematical education that promotes enjoyment, enthusiasm, confidence and mathematical competence. The curriculum offered is in line with the requirements of the National Curriculum and will enable all pupils to easily transfer between different settings with ease. At Elements, we use the fundamental aims of the Mastery approach to underpin the teaching of mathematics.

Maths is a key skill which is used in our everyday lives, and many different careers require mathematical competence and understanding. We aim as far as possible to enable pupils to have the mathematics they need in order to access their respective career choices.

All pupils will leave with the ability to apply their skills and knowledge to enable them to deal with the mathematical demands of daily life, be able to reason mathematically and apply mathematical knowledge to problem-solving.

All pupils will be given the opportunity to achieve a nationally recognised mathematical qualification, taking into consideration the individual learning needs of each pupil. However, we have really high expectations and aspire for all pupils, where possible, to believe they have both the ability and capability to achieve a GCSE Mathematics. However, as each pupil will be on their own unique educational journey, other qualifications such as Entry Level Maths and Functional Skills Maths can be alternatively offered.

Implementation

Implementation considers the many barriers to mathematical education and seeks to overcome these through a programme of intervention as needed and strives to challenge mathematical negativity and to address and accommodate mathematical anxiety, as this is often seen in many of our pupils that transfer to Elements, due to the nature of previous education provisions.

We strive to ensure the mathematical learning environment is a safe and secure environment where mistakes are welcomed and instead used as learning points and points of discussion.

To implement the mathematical needs of the pupils, we loosely follow a programme based around the White Rose Maths Scheme; however, this is suitably tailored to individual needs and ensures written and mental aspects of numbers that underpin the Maths curriculum are embedded by revisiting frequently.

Throughout the building blocks, we scaffold learning around the mastery approach of:

Coherence

Connecting new ideas to concepts that have already been understood and ensuring that, once understood and mastered, new ideas are used again in the next steps of learning; what might this look like in practice?

• The teacher explicitly links new learning to prior learning – often at the beginning and the end of the lesson.
• The learning is broken into small, carefully sequenced steps.
• Each lesson focuses on one point in-depth so that learning is sustainable.

Variation

The central idea of teaching with variation is to highlight the essential features of a concept or idea by varying the non-essential features. When giving examples of a concept, it is useful to add variation to emphasise:

• What it is (as varied as possible);
• What it is not.

When constructing a set of activities/questions it is important to consider what connects the examples; what mathematical structures are being highlighted?

Fluency

Demands more of learners than memorisation of a single procedure or collection of facts. It encompasses a mixture of efficiency, accuracy and flexibility. Quick and efficient recall of facts and procedures is important in order for learners to keep track of problems, think strategically and solve problems. Fluency also demands the flexibility to move between different contexts and representations of mathematics, to recognise relationships and make connections and to make appropriate choices from a whole toolkit of methods, strategies and approaches.

Mathematical Thinking

If taught ideas are to be understood deeply, they must not merely be passively received but must be worked on by the student: thought about, reasoned with and discussed with others. What might this look like in practice?

• Adults ask questions that require children to reason, ‘What is the same? What is different?’
• Adults ask pupils to explain, convince, draw diagrams or use manipulatives to illustrate an idea or strategy, reason and conjecture as a natural part of all activity in the mathematics classroom. This further supports deep and sustainable learning.

The curriculum areas covered can be broken down into the following areas in line with the national curriculum and the requirements of Entry Level, Functional Skills and GCSE

Number– pupils will learn different arithmetic methods, understand the structure and function of the number system and be able to apply this to real life through the use of fractions and percentages.

Ratio and proportional reasoning – Pupils will be able to understand the concepts of proportional reasoning and ratio and be able to apply them to such real-life concepts as what is the best value for money or how to adapt recipes for differing numbers of people.

Geometry and Measures: Pupils will be able to use a range of appropriate metric measures, and apply them to discover perimeters, areas and volumes of shapes. Explore measurements of turns and their place in geometry, and investigate the properties of 2D and 3D shapes and their use in real life, such as packing.

Probability and Statistics- Understand the concepts of probability and be able to state why and whether events are certain, impossible or evens. Be able to understand and use the data handling cycle of collecting, representing, analysing and evaluating data and how it is used in real life, especially in the media.

Algebra- Be able to identify numbers patterns, sequences and other relationships and represent them competently algebraically, understand the connection and usefulness of algebra in real life, especially as an efficient way of representing and communicating patterns.

A variety of approaches will be used alongside the mastery approach, including practical applications, links with careers, learning opportunities involving other curriculum areas, thematic learning and opportunities for independent investigative work.

We will also seek to widen the opportunities to explore mathematics outside of the Maths lessons by promoting STEM days, Numeracy day, International Mathematics day and My Money week. These will give opportunities to link with Personal Development skills.

Impact

In developing confident and enthusiastic learners we aim to provide the foundations to enable all pupils to have a deeper understanding of Mathematics and are able to relate it to real-world concepts. All learners will have the proficiency to function mathematically beyond their time at Elements.

The impact will be measured in a variety of ways:

1. The formal nationally recognised mathematical qualifications of a combination of one, two or all of the following:

• AQA Entry-Level Mathematics
• AQA Functional Skills Mathematics
• AQA GCSE Mathematics (Foundation or Higher Level as appropriate)

2. Informal formative assessments and more formal termly summative assessments show academic progress.
3. Through Biannual GL assessments
4. Through their individual EHCP trackers and targets and a pupils’ progress through the Academy’s building blocks
5. Through pupil voice questionnaires
6. Through increased engagement lessons