Mathematics at our School

At Woodside Academy, we believe that Maths is an essential corner stone of our curriculum and is designed to engage and captivate children whilst providing them with the mathematical skills that are needed for the next stage in their educational journey and for later life. We want our children to be confident, resilient mathematicians who understand that Maths is an enjoyable, fundamental part of everyday life and the world we live in. 

We have chosen to use Power Maths as part of our Maths curriculum because it enables a consistent, mastery approach with clear progression across the school (from Reception to Year 6) building on knowledge from year to year with an emphasis on problem solving and investigating maths through everyday situations.  It also helps all children develop a 'can do' attitude to maths (which is essential for all pupils) and focuses on helping all children build a deep understanding of maths concepts.

At Woodside Academy, our maths curriculum provides opportunities to connect, consolidate and reinforce maths skills whilst also developing fluency in both arithmetic and times tables to allow children to be able to access all areas of learning within mathematics.  Key instant recall facts and concepts for each year group are carefully sequenced and mapped for each half term. 

The expectation is that all pupils will move through the programmes of study within Power Maths at broadly the same time.  However, decisions about when to progress will be based on the security of pupils' understanding and their readiness to progress to the next stage.  Pupils who grasp concepts rapidly will be challenged through being offered increasingly complex problems to deepen their understanding.  Those who are not sufficiently fluent with earlier material will consolidate and strengthen their understanding before moving on.  

Early Years and Maths

Our curriculum journey begins in Early Years and is achieved through providing stimulating practical investigations, real world projects, role play areas and problem solving across the curriculum to ensure the very best start to children’s understanding of mathematical concepts and development of mathematic skills. 

We also prioritise the securing of basic number skills and on building a solid number sense by following the NCETM 'Mastering Number' programme in EYFS and KS1 as this supports mathematical fluency and vocabulary.  The teacher provides 4 sessions per week where the children have the opportunity to use practical resources to support visualisation of number, develop subitising skills and learn the foundations of the operations in readiness for their KS2 mathematics learning.  

In Nursery, we focus primarily on the number and numerical patterns  and use White Rose Maths materials to begin this maths journey.  Continuous provision activities are set up to provide an enriching learning environment for children to apply new mathematical learning.  Regular counting opportunities are provided by the practitioners through singing songs or counting whilst lining up.  Adult-led activities provide another layer to deepening children's learning within maths.  

Fluency with number is a high priority in our school therefore five additional lessons are timetabled which focus on a range of arithmetical skills.

Children practice the rapid recall of these skills using resources like Times Tables Rockstars, One Minute Maths app and NumBots.  These resources are used to build pupil engagement and consolidate maths knowledge.    

Key Documents