Mathematics
We Are Mathematicians!
At Five Spires Primary Academy, we aim to produce confident mathematicians who can use and apply their knowledge and understanding in a variety of contexts. We endeavour to provide children with a diverse range of opportunities to use their maths skills across the curriculum.
The three aims of the National Curriculum: fluency, reasoning and problem solving are incorporated into daily practice. Children are encouraged to be fluent through the use of basic arithmetic activities and then provided with a wide range of opportunities to apply these skills to develop their reasoning and problem-solving skills.
Children complete pre assessments at the start of each block (unit of work). Each block is taken from the White Rose Maths Schemes of learning, which allows clear progression in the mathematics curriculum from EYFS through to year 6. The White Rose Maths ‘End of Block Assessments’ are a series of assessments which cover the concepts taught in each block. Teachers complete a question level analysis from the pre assessments to assess children’s understanding and identify gaps in learning so that children can become fluent in the fundamentals of each block. From this, teachers use a range of resources to plan and deliver mathematics: White Rose Maths Hub, NCETM Mastery Resources and Nrich. These resources are combined in the Calculations Policy, which demonstrates how a Concrete-Pictorial-Abstract approach can support deeper understanding. The Calculation
Policy also demonstrates how bar modelling can be used to support children moving from using concrete resources, to pictorial and abstract methods. At the end of each block, children revisit their pre assessment, enabling progress to be clearly measured and the impact of learning to be seen.
Mathematics Statement of Intent
Maths Statement of Intent
Maths Calculation Policy
Maths Calculation Policy
Timetables Rock Stars
Children have opportunities to practice their timestables at home using Timestables Rock Stars.
Children have their own log in details. To help your child further, please see our top tips on the Times Tables page.
Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check
All children in Year 4 will take participate in the multiplication tables check in June. For more information, please see the following Multiplication Check – Information for Parents or talk to your child's class teacher.
Long Term Plans 2022-2023
Long Term Plan - Nursery
Long Term Plan - Reception
Long Term Plan - Year 1
Long Term Plan - Year 2
Long Term Plan - Year 3
Long Term Plan - Year 4
Long Term Plan - Year 5
Long Term Plan - Year 6
Whole School Vocabulary Progression Document
Whole School Events
World Maths Day
On Wednesday 8th March the whole school took part in World Maths Day, this was a fantastic event that saw our children immersed in various maths activities throughout the day including, mathematical escape rooms, outdoor treasure hunts, exploring geometric art, researching historical number systems and measures, and competing against peers, live, from across the globe in 20 oneminute challenges on the Mathletics app.
World Maths Day is all about fun, fast and inclusive mathematics and it is fair to say that all of the children thoroughly enjoyed the celebration; their efforts to 'dress as digits' was amazing and helped us to raise £131 towards the cost of new maths resources to benefit all classes.
A special mention goes to our team of Year Six mathematicians: Luke, Gabe, Sam, Rae, Izzy, Thomas and Harley who competed in a maths competition against St Joseph's Catholic Primary and St. Michael's C of E School. They were great representatives of the school and enjoyed building community links - Well done!
Make £10 Grow Business Project
This year, Year 6 children had the opportunity to take part in the Make £10 Grow project. This project was inspired by Virgin Money’s Make £5 Grow, a fun educational programme for budding entrepreneurs. This programme gives pupils the real-life experience of starting a small business. It provides real context for literacy and numeracy, builds speaking and listening skills and offers relevant presentation opportunities. It also develops teamwork and problem-solving skills, financial and risk awareness, and an enterprising spirit.
Pupils were placed into teams of 6 and were given £10. They then had to come up with a bright idea, make a plan, use their £10 to develop their product or service, and sell them for a profit. Best of all, the class got to keep the profit, after the original loan was paid back.
The children held a cake sale, a car wash, a dazzling drink station and sold craft items. It total they made a whopping £350, giving them a profit of £300.They decided to give 10% of their profit to charity and they are going to use the rest to fund a class treat at the end of the year.
App Recommendation
Have you downloaded the 1-Minute Maths app?
This is a free app from White Rose - the maths scheme that we follow at school. It is specifically aimed at Key Stage 1 pupils and focuses on the four operations of number (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) – and on ‘Subitising’. The free mobile app is available for Apple/iOS, Android, and Kindle. 1-Minute Maths offers children engaging and easily accessible practice in basic number. There’s no specific route or starting point. Having chosen a topic, each user answers a series of randomly generated questions (a different set of questions every time means they learn the concept, not a sequence of answers).
When the one minute’s up, the questions are automatically marked and presented on a breakdown screen, giving instant feedback on how they’ve done. If they’re struggling with a question, a ‘Hint’ button reformats the question as a familiar manipulative display that mirrors the approaches used in the White Rose Maths schemes of learning.
Check out these 7 top reasons for using 1-Minute Maths!
1. Excellent practice – and no distractions.
2. A clear, intuitive process that children pick up straight away.
3. No login or internet access needed. Just download and play.
4. Enjoyable and motivating… How many can they get correct in one minute?
5. Helpful hints match those used in class.
6. Brilliant for building number fluency and confidence.
7. The mobile app is completely FREE!
Useful websites to support mathematics at home
Children make progress best as mathematicians when they regularly repeat skills and practise them until they become embedded. This can be quite a long process sometimes, and so the use of the context of an exciting game or interesting activity can be highly motivating. In our experience, our children learn best when they are having fun and that's what games are for!
We make a lot of use of online maths games and activities in school. Some of the links below are our most popular. Why not try some of them out and let us know what you think…?
KS2 Maths BBC Bitesize Primary Maths Games Arena Hit the Button
Math is Fun Maths Zone Primary Games ICT Games
Support for Parents
Many parents feel like maths has changed and that it’s sometimes difficult to keep up to date with modern teaching methods. Therefore, the White Rose Hub has teamed up with TV presenter, teacher and parent, Michael Underwood to bring you a mini-series called ‘Maths with Michael’.
Click here to access and watch the series to help you bridge the gap between school and home.