Maths is an essential skill that enables us to live an independent life. It teaches us how to make sense of the world around us, whether it be: calculating the total amount of money we need to purchase items, knowing what time to meet our friends or weighing precise amounts of ingredients when cooking our favourite food. Maths helps us to develop problem solving and reasoning skills which we can all use throughout our lives.

Our Approach to Teaching Mathematics

At Barons Court our main aim within Mathematics is for all children to develop a secure understanding of maths, equipping them with the skills of calculation and problem solving that they need in life beyond school through every day contexts.  Within our school we implement the National Curriculum for all of our Mathematics lessons from Year 1 - Year 6. Our method of teaching focuses on using problem solving in order for children to learn conceptually - thereby, children are not learning by rote and memorising, but actually understanding how to solve a problem and why they must complete calculations in order.

At Barons Court we believe that children should be introduced to calculation and problem solving through the use of concrete, visual and abstract methods. As children begin to understand the underlying ideas of Mathematics they will become more fluent and develop a deeper understanding, allowing them to apply methods of their choice to a range of situations. Children are challenged to explain why, to prove how they know, to convince that they are correct and to find all possible outcomes.

Written methods are complementary to mental methods and should not be seen as separate from them. The aim is that children use mental calculation methods when appropriate, but for calculations that they cannot do in their heads they use an efficient written method accurately and with confidence. It is vital that pupils explore Mathematics using concrete materials and visual representations before moving onto written calculations to ensure a secure understanding of the fundamentals of Mathematics. All children throughout the school have the opportunity to use a wide range of resources to support their learning such as hundred squares, number lines, Numicon, cubes, place value cards and other small apparatus. Children’s mathematical skills are embedded into the whole of our curriculum, through subjects such as Science, Design Technology, Outdoor Learning and PE. Vocabulary is explicitly taught to help facilitate children to know more and remember more key concepts through the whole of our curriculum and  opportunities to revisit previous learning are embedded through our personalised maths curriculum which is implemented within each year group.

How We Teach Mathematics At Barons Court

We use a range of different teaching methods to enhance the teaching of Mathematics within our school. These include:

• Developing Fluency Skills– To develop children’s fluency, short counting and key number fact sessions take place through our daily ‘Maths Masters’ sessions in Phase 2 and Phase 3. Children in Phases 3 and 4 also practise counting, number fact knowledge and times tables daily in the ‘Do Now’ introduction to each Mathematics lesson.  
• Daily Maths Lessons – Most of the number aspects of the curriculum are taught through daily maths lessons from Years 1-6. We focus on calculation and number to enable pupils to gain a deeper understanding of the mathematical concepts. Children are given opportunities to develop fluency, reason mathematically and solve problems both within the learning space and within our wider local community to ensure that their understanding can be applied to every day contexts.
• Times Table Rockstars and Numbots - We expect all children to have a secure grasp of the multiplication tables. Learning multiplication and memorising the times tables are building blocks for other maths topics taught in school – such as division, long multiplication, fractions and algebra. We explicitly teach and assess times tables through our online programmes and within our daily maths lessons.
• Cross-Curricular Maths – Many aspects of the curriculum, especially Measurement, Geometry and Statistics are taught through our wider curriculum enquiry question approach. There are particularly strong links with Computing, Science, Geography and Outdoor Learning.
• Spoken Language – Children are given frequent opportunities to discuss their mathematical thinking and articulate their reasoning and this is fully incorporated into our spoken language curriculum.
• Personalised Support  - We run a number of different intervention groups to help children with their learning. Children who may need support in the reinforcement of knowledge and skills are supported through our intervention sessions and tutoring sessions before and during school.
• Outdoor Learning – All children are provided frequent opportunities to explore maths concepts within the outdoor environment. This includes when working at the beach, visiting local shops and at the local train station.