Departmental Overview

“Mathematics will be an exciting and innovative department with a creative programme of implementing a Maths curriculum that is not seen as a self-contained subject, but one in which students can apply Maths learning to all aspects of everyday life.”

Aims

In our primary department we are aiming to lay the foundations in maths that will allow children to build a stable and solid base knowledge to help them succeed.

In order to us to do this effectively, we support our children to understand some difficult concepts by removing the obstacles that many children face in maths through a use of practical approaches broken down into smaller, more manageable sections. We know that breaking the curriculum down into small manageable steps should help children understand concepts better.

We encourage our pupils to use mathematical thinking in every lesson, throughout the curriculum and reasoning skills, to dig deeper into these concepts.

Our main asset is that we have enthusiastic and passionate teachers who work tirelessly to assist our children every day.

We believe that all children, when introduced to new concepts, should have the opportunity to build competency by taking this approach. Children are shown multiple strategies so that they can pick the method that they feel most comfortable with. As the old saying goes, “there is more than one way to crack a nut” and this applies with maths also. Once children understand the underlying concept behind an area of maths, they can use various different ways of solving the problem.

Concrete methods – children should have the opportunity to use concrete objects and manipulatives to help them understand what they are doing.

Pictorial methods – alongside this, children should use pictorial representations. These representations can then be used to help reason and solve problems.

Abstract methods – both concrete and pictorial representations should support children’s understanding of abstract methods.

SUPPORT FOR LEARNING:

To support your learning at home and your overall curriculum, please click on the stars below, to read more. If you need any further support or advice remember you can email newfieldcontact@schools.sefton.gov.uk and staff will reply to you, or phone you, to help you further. 

Keep up your good work - we are proud of you and are here to support you.

During this time, we have the fantastic Pearson’s online maths resource (known to the pupils as ABACUS) for Lower School Pupils that they all know and love from using in school. 

https://www.activelearnprimary.co.uk/

Using their own individual login details given out in learning packs, pupils can play interactive games designed to consolidate and extend their learning in all areas of maths:

• Number and Place Value
• Addition and Subtraction
• Multiplication and Division
• Geometry and Shape
• Measurement
• Statistics
• Algebra
• Fraction
• Ratio and Proportion

Please use this weekly, there are over 150 games to choose from per year group and your class teacher will regularly update these for the children to practice with.

We have also been granted temporary access to the online versions of the “Power Maths” text books, which are online replicas of those used in lessons. In time, you may be guided to specific pages to complete by your child’s class teacher in line with the planning materials to ensure that the national curriculum areas are being targeted, even from home.

Other activities you may find are both great for teaching maths and keeping occupied during this time include:

• Baking
• Gardening
• Decorating
• Cooking

I hope that you are all safe and well during this testing time for the country!

Mr Lancashire (Lower School Maths Coordinator)