Mathematics

Mathematics is essential for everyday life and provides a foundation for understanding our world. It is our aim at Dunston Hill to ensure children develop a love for Mathematics, to nurture them and help them become confident and competent mathematicians who are able to recall and apply their knowledge rapidly and accurately. We are highly committed to providing a challenging and stimulating curriculum which engages all learners and embeds the basic skills required to ensure our children are successful. We empower our children to become resilient learners who positivity embrace learning with an ‘I CAN DO’ attitude. This approach, combined with our high-quality teaching standards and appropriate use of resources, ensures all children have the opportunity to ‘go deeper’, broaden their understanding of mathematical concepts and develop a love of mathematics throughout their Primary School learning and beyond. 

In the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), we ensure that each unique child develops a firm mathematical foundation in a way that is engaging, and appropriate for not only their age but stage in development. We ensure that play underpins the delivery of all learning experiences as it is our belief that children learn best through practical, hands-on experiences and interactions with their environment. Here at Dunston Hill, we ensure our learning environment enables children to engage in child-initiated play which is actively supported by adults both inside and outside of the classroom. In addition to this, opportunities for focussed learning sessions in Mathematics are planned in-line with guidance from the NCETM Mastering Number programme and White Rose. Such planned activities provide children with the opportunity to consolidate their understanding and extend mathematical concepts. The characteristics of effective learning link closely with many elements of the Mastery Curriculum, which children follow when entering the next stage of their learning here at Dunston Hill. 

In Key Stage 1 and 2, children build on the firm foundations gained in EYFS and further embrace Mathematics via the afore mentioned Mastery Curriculum; a curriculum which ensures children don’t just learn key facts through repeated methods but develop a deeper understanding of concepts and procedural methods. There is no differentiation in content taught as teachers plan lessons with small achievable steps accessible to all children.  Children are encouraged to think deeply about a concept and make connections. Discussions, practice and consolidation are key to this approach and concrete and pictorial representations of mathematics are carefully chosen to help build procedural and conceptual knowledge together. We promote the use of concrete resources as a way of introducing children to new concepts and we offer opportunities for children to handle and manipulate resources to aid understanding before moving onto pictorial and then abstract methods. Children have the opportunity to develop fluency and problem -solving capabilities alongside one another which in turn supports them in developing a really secure understanding of the mathematical structures within the concept being taught. At the beginning of every lesson, our children are keen to explore new concepts and take risks to follow their curiosity.  Through clear modelling and stem sentences, children build an extensive range of mathematical vocabulary and apply this in their explanations of understanding. 

Our curriculum ensures children are stimulated and challenged to fulfil their learning potential. They enjoy mathematics and “there is a buzz in classrooms when mathematics is being taught” (Ofsted 2017). High-quality teaching ensures our children are motivated and excited to learn, their books are well presented and demonstrate clear progression in mathematical skills. We are extremely proud of our children’s achievements in Mathematics and the progress we have made since beginning our journey to develop a curriculum designed to ensure children master mathematics. We are confident that as our mastery curriculum is embedded across all key stages, it will have a positive impact on raising the standards achieved in EYFS and in Key Stages One and Two.