Maths
At High Street, we believe that all pupils can achieve in mathematics. We believe that at each stage of learning, children should be able to demonstrate deep, conceptual understanding of a topic and build on this over time. We want children to be able to not only recall and use the maths taught but to also be able to transfer and apply it in different contexts, being able to reason and problem solve. The ‘deep learning’ that we are aiming for is achieved by teaching maths using the mastery approach.
Maths Mastery - The majority of pupils will move through the programmes of study at broadly the same pace. Pupils who grasp concepts rapdily should be challenged through being offered rich and sophisticated problems before any acceleration through new content. Those who are not sufficiently fluent with earlier material should consolidate their understanding, through additional practice, before moving on (NC 2014 p3).
Children at High Street need to see how maths is useful in their daily lives and must aspire to want to improve these skills to carve a furture career for themselves. Our student will face unique economic, environmental, and hmanitarian challenges in the future. We aim to build skills for problem solving which will address thes challenges. We must encourage new problem-solving strategies through creativitiy and big thinking!
Each unit of work is designed in small, carefully sequenced steps that pupils should aim to master before moving on to the next stage. When designing these small steps, the concepts of mastery underpin the lesson planning to ensure children have a secure, conceptual understanding of what is being taught. The objective is explored using a range of representations and structures; fluency is developed as well as the flexibility to move between different contexts; variation is used to develop well-rounded and holistic understanding and children are encouraged to think mathematically throughout.
Reasoning is developed through all stages of teaching. Children are encouraged to reason about the structures of mathematics as they are working through their activities, this includes reasoning about the strategies that they are using during the teaching and learning of fluency and the methods of calculation. This is then consolidated with a selection of mastery level reasoning activities. Children who are ready to reason at a deeper level are given the opportunity to generalise about the mathematics involved in the topic they are working on.
By giving the children the opportunity to understand their maths fully and apply it to real life situations, we believe our children will be ready to successfully meet the challenges of the next stages of their education.
KIRFs (Key Instant Recall Facts)
Why KIRFs?
To develop every child’s fluency and mental maths skills, we are introducing KIRFs throughout school.
KIRFs are a way of helping each child to learn by heart, key facts and information which they need to have instant recall of.
KIRFs are designed to support the development of mental maths skills that underpin much of the maths work in our school. They are particularly useful when calculating, adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing. They contain number facts such as number bonds and times tables that need constant practise and rehearsal, so children can recall them quickly and accurately.
Instant recall of facts helps enormously with mental agility in maths lessons. When children move onto written calculations, knowing these key facts is very beneficial. For children to become more efficient in recalling them easily, they need to be practised frequently and for short periods of time.
Over their time at High Street, we believe that children will be more confident with number work, understand its relevance, and be able to access the curriculum much more easily. They will be able to apply what they have learnt to a wide range of problems that confront us regularly.
Please find each year groups KIRFs below.
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