What do children at Silver End say about Power Maths:

“I love using the textbooks especially the share as it gives you useful tips on how to do it”

“I love working with my friends to solve the problems together”

“Maths is really fun at Silver End”

“Power Maths is challenging- it makes you think more”

“I love that Power Maths has lots of problem solving questions- which means that there isn’t just one way to answer a question and you can do your own method before using the Power Maths characters to check your answers”

“The challenges- in Power Maths I like the oddness of the challenges- it really makes you think about the question”

Intent 

We believe that all pupils, regardless of background, should enjoy mathematics and succeed in the subject, becoming competent and confident mathematicians. We aim for our pupils to acquire a deep, long-term and secure understanding of mathematics. We are committed to developing pupils’ curiosity about the subject, enabling them to make meaningful and rich links to real life contexts that will be relevant and useful in the world of work.

At Silver End Academy, we believe that pupils should:

• Make sense of mathematics and demonstrate understanding through exposure to different representations using the principles of CPA – Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract:
  • Concrete – the doing: children use manipulatives (counters, base-10 equipment) to represent the concept they are being taught. This ‘hands on’ component using real objects is the foundation for conceptual understanding
  • Pictorial – the seeing: children can use pictures and models to represent the concrete manipulatives
  • Abstract – the symbolic: this is the concept in the abstract form which is more readily understood once children have explored the concrete and pictorial. Pupils’ are now capable of representing problems by using mathematical notation. This is the most formal and efficient stage of mathematical understanding. Abstract representations can simply be an efficient way of recording the maths, without being the actual maths.

• Communicate and develop mathematical language using a carefully sequenced, structured approach to introducing and reinforcing mathematical vocabulary throughout maths lessons, so pupils have the opportunity to work with word problems from the beginning of their learning. This is achieved through:
  • Sharing the key vocabulary at the beginning of every lesson in the ‘Discover’ section and insisting on its use throughout
  • Modelling clear sentence structures and expecting pupils to respond using a full sentence
  • Maths talk, allowing pupils to discuss their thinking and reasoning of the concepts being presented using stem sentences

• Think mathematically and build resilience to the challenges they face within and across the subject by having the opportunity to:
  • Explore, wonder, question and conjecture- feeling safe to make mistakes and learn from these through exploring their own understanding and application of maths
  • Compare, classify, sort- using clear verbal reasoning as to how or why they have classified their objects- again with the confidence to explain and discuss their thoughts with their peers and their teachers
  • Experiment, play with possibilities, vary an aspect and see what happens- similar to how children learn to play with language in literacy- explore what happens when the changes are made, are there patterns that appear- if so what is happening and from this can they predict what will happen as the sequences continue?
  • Make theories and predictions and act purposefully to see what happens- making generalisations and exploring them both independently, with peers and with adults alike.

It is important that we support all pupils in developing their mathematical thinking, both in order to improve the way in which they learn, as well as the learning itself. Good questioning can be used to develop pupils’ ability to compare, modify and generalise, all building a deeper understanding of mathematics.

Implementation

 The content and principles underpinning the Mathematics curriculum at Silver End Academy reflect those found in high-performing education systems internationally, particularly those of east and south-east Asian countries. These principles convey how our curriculum is implemented.  

At Silver End Academy, we use Power Maths as a basis of our maths lesson to achieve the aims set out by the National Curriculum.  This is an exciting class mastery approach, which has been recommended by the DfE that works for every child.  It is based upon the concrete, pictorial and abstract approach. Every lesson is divided into sections that involve plenty of discovery, sharing, collaboration, practice and reflection. Children are encouraged to solve problems each day through the use of concrete resources, pictorial representations and abstract thinking. We use Power Maths as our over-arching curriculum, teachers are encouraged to then explore similar schemes such as White Rose which is designed to work alongside Power Maths to support the children’s learning and expand their skill set. Power Maths provides our lessons structure of: Discover, Share, Think Together and then practice. Teachers can then use either the Power Maths Practice books or use resources from a wide range of schemes and sources to support and challenge the children.

At the heart of this programme is the idea that all children can achieve and be successful mathematicians with the right growth mind-set.  It promotes five child friendly characters, each with their own positive skillset, to inspire and motivate children.  These characters can be found across our school and are allies for our children:

Our pupils:

• are open-minded and like to think differently
• will come up with a variety of methods or ideas to solving a problem
• are resilient and never give up even if our methods are not the most efficient
• always enjoy making mistakes and learning from them
• are confident, willing to take risks and are unafraid of failure
• are happy to share and discuss our ideas with others, learning from each other
• are eager, interested and inquisitive, asking lots of questions

Impact

At Silver End Academy, we ensure that pupils are supported in developing their collaborative and independent skills through a supportive ethos and culture. All pupils are encouraged to develop a growth-mind-set through the experience of challenge and success. Teachers proactively promote a ‘can-do’ attitude to mathematics to make sure that children, teachers and parents really believe they can do maths!

Assessment is integrated throughout our lessons and unit structure. This helps teachers make regular assessments of children’s understanding to inform their teaching and measure progress. For children, assessment is a chance for them to review key concepts and reflect on their learning using maths journals. 

Opportunities for assessment include:

Formative assessment within every lesson

Teacher notes that help identify and address pupils’ misconceptions

Differentiation is achieved, not through offering different content, but through paying attention to the levels of support and challenge needed to allow every student to fully grasp the concepts and ideas being studied.

This ensures that all students gain sufficiently deep and secure understanding of the mathematics to form the foundation of future learning before moving to the next part of the curriculum sequence. This prevents students from being left behind and others from skimming and surface learning.

Other opportunities within Mathematics

Children have access to:

Times Table Rock Stars- each child from Year 2 has a log in to practice their times tables

Fluent in 5- A quick paced 5 question mental arithmetic activity completed at the start of each Maths lessons- This is started from Year 3 and across Key Stage 2 from September and is then started across Key Stage 1 from January.

Fast Times Tables- These are times table grids that the children complete as Early Morning Work. Key Stage 2 will start using these after October half term and then Year 2 will begin using them after February half term.

Merit and Mastery Tasks- Each half term the children complete either a Merit or Mastery task. These tasks are designed to allow children to become fluent in their times tables and number bonds.

Children should be fluent in times tables by the time they leave in Year 6. It starts in Year 1 with knowing their number bonds to 10 & 20, before moving onto their times tables in Year 2.

Each year group, particularly KS2 need to make sure that they re-visit the previous year’s times tables to embedded the fluency and maths knowledge

If the children have a good firm foundation knowledge of number bonds and times tables it will enable children to grasp new concepts more readily and also it will enable classes to Show off their recall skills to visitors.

Number bonds and Number Facts

Number bonds are also often referred to as 'number pairs'. They are simply the pairs of numbers that make up a given number.

Number bonds to 10

1 + 9, 2 + 8, 3 + 7, 4 + 6, 5 + 5

Number bonds to 20

1 + 19, 2 + 18, 3 + 17, 4 + 16, 5 + 15

Number bonds in Reception

Children start to learn about number bonds in the Foundation stage, when they might be given a number, such as 5, and then asked to select two groups of objects that will add up to that number.

Number bonds in Year 1

Children are expected to know number bonds to 10 and number bonds to 20. 

Number bonds in Year 2

Children by now need to be very confident with their number bonds to 20. They need to be able to work out number bonds to 100. They also need to be confident with the corresponding subtraction facts (for example: 20 - 13 = 7).

Number bonds in Key Stage 2

In Key Stage 2, children move onto being able to work out number bonds to 1000 (e.g. 450 and 550) and number bonds to 1 (e.g. 0.8 and 0.2).

Number Facts

Number facts are basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division calculations that children should learn to recall instantly with no working out (in other words, they need to learn them off by heart).

Number facts are sometimes referred to as number bonds (addition and subtraction) and times tables with related division facts (multiplication and division).