Maths

Mathematics is not about numbers, equations, computations, or algorithms: it is about understanding. –William Paul Thurston

Mathematics is an interconnected discipline that is essential to our everyday life. It is a subject that supports learning across the curriculum and is critical for our understanding of other subjects especially science and technology. A high quality math education provides the foundation of a deeper understanding of the world around us, it helps us to think creatively and critically, reason logically and solve problems. It is a subject that knows no barriers according to David Hilbert ‘Mathematics knows no races or geographic boundaries; for mathematics, the cultural world is one country’. A child who joins school with little or no knowledge of English will still be able to understand the basic concepts of mathematics.

At Holly Park we believe all children can achieve in mathematics and so we teach for a deep and secure understanding of the subject. Our teaching is underpinned by the ‘mastery’ approach. Children learn the content from their year group only. They spend time learning the content and applying it in multiple ways. We provide different opportunities and challenges for the children to use their knowledge to reason and solve different types of problems showing their ideas in different ways and choosing from a range of resources. Children are also challenged to show their thinking in different ways using unfamiliar resources.

Our goal is to foster a positive ‘can do’ approach eliminating the ‘I’m just not good at maths’ attitude. Every child is encouraged to have a go and believe the fact that ‘We can all do Maths’. Even if they do not get their desired result they are able to identify their mistakes and learn from them. They are encouraged to have ownership of their ideas and the confidence to share them. Making mistakes and trying sophisticated challenges helps to develop character, including resilience, confidence and independence. Children who are resilient contribute positively to the life of the school, their local community and the wider environment.

We aim for every pupil to

• become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.
• reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language.
• solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and preserving in seeking solutions.

Mathematical vocabulary is an essential tool for mathematical learning. Children communicate their thoughts, justify their ideas, argue and prove their reasoning using mathematical vocabulary. They are introduced to the appropriate vocabulary at the stage it is required in their learning to ensure progress in maths. Children are encouraged to use stem sentences with the correct mathematical vocabulary in the lessons in order to consolidate their learning. We use the Rising Star maths vocabulary document. ​