Our Aim
At Billingshurst Primary school, we are committed to ensuring that all children develop their number fluency, reasoning and problem solving skills in mathematics so that they can become confident mathematicians who can make sense of the world around them.
What we do
A Mastery Approach
We are developing a mastery approach to mathematics at our school to enable all children to develop a deep understanding of the subject that can be built upon as they move through the Mathematics curriculum, from Reception to Year 6. In our lessons, you will see:
- Opportunities to review prior knowledge and essential mathematical vocabulary, so that this can be built upon.
- Carefully chosen tasks and activities, such as anchor tasks, that provide opportunities for children and adults alike to discuss and model methods, mathematical structures and vocabulary, with a strong focus on problem-solving and reasoning.
- Regular opportunities for children to practice skills and methods both with support (guided) and independently.
- Regular opportunities to embed number bonds, times table facts and calculation strategies away from the point of teaching, to develop fluency and confidence in these.
- Feedback provided through live marking and discussions with children that enable them to identify and move through misconceptions.
- Children being encouraged to think about their learning and learning behaviours by encouraging them to take an active role in planning, monitoring and evaluating their learning.
Concrete - Pictorial - Abstract
At Billingshurst Primary School, children are provided with opportunities to use a wide variety of resources in a language-rich environment. Children are taught to use concrete resources e.g. counters, tens frames, bead strings, Dienes, Base 10, number lines, Numicon and Cuisenaire, to develop their understanding of mathematical concepts. We believe that a concrete (active) approach is essential before moving onto pictorial representations (images) and finally abstract where mathematics is recorded using symbols such as =, +, x, and this is reflected in our calculation policy. When using formal methods, the children can continue to use pictures or concrete resources alongside their work, to reinforce their conceptual understanding and as a tool for proving their answers and explaining their thinking.
This approach to teaching Maths has been developed out of evidence-based research, with reference to Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction (2012) and the NCETM approach of Teaching for Mastery. Our Maths Coordinator is part of the NCETM Maths Mastery Specialist program and you can find out more about Maths Mastery here. Please also see our Learning Policy for more information about Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction.
How to help your child at home
There is a strong emphasis on problem-solving and reasoning in our maths curriculum. In order to solve problems and reason effectively, children need to become fluent mathematicians who have a good ‘number sense’. They need to be able to recall number facts quickly and use them in different contexts.
It would be beneficial for children to practice the following number facts and skills at home:
- Recalling number bonds to 10, and 20 with speed and accuracy, helping them to earn the title of Number Bond Master!
- Recalling doubles and halves.
- Adding and subtracting mentally.
- Finding pairs of numbers that total 10, 100, 1000, 10,000, 100,000.
- Times table facts to 12X12
- Working with money in every-day contexts such as allowing children to work out how much money they will need to buy something.
- Reading timetables and being encourage to tell the time on digital and analogue clocks.
Please follow the links below for more detailed information about what to focus on in each year group, for our calculation policy and for ideas about how to practice number facts and times tables. If you are unsure of how to support your child or what they are working on in class, please speak to your child's teacher.
