Maths Curriculum
At Parkside, we work to ensure all children are secondary school ready by the end of Year 6. They will have confidence in everyday mathematics, an ability to problem solve and be able to challenge themselves.
At Parkside, we use the Herts Essentials Maths Curriculum to plan daily maths lessons. Maths skills are taught through discreet daily lessons, which reinforce mathematical fluency and reasoning. Pupils are taught problem-solving skills and are provided with the opportunity to apply their understanding through a range of activities, which, when appropriate, they can self-select.
Concrete, Pictorial and Abstract
HFL Essentials Maths links the concrete experiences of children in the classroom with pictorial and abstract representations (written).
Concrete Manipulatives
Objects that are moved physically by the pupil, such as counters, multilink and place value counters. Concrete resources help children make sense of abstract ideas.
Pictorial
At this stage, children translate the concrete experience into jottings and pictures; for example, drawing Diennes equipment or tens frames.
Abstract
Ultimately, children are expected to record their mathematical thinking and working in a compacted form of notation. This would include long and short division and multiplication. Explicit individual steps may not be visible. The informal and expanded methods expose all the intermediate steps.
Maths Fluency Sessions
One of the three aims of the Primary Maths Curriculum, is for children to become ‘fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice’ and for them to ‘develop the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately’.
To help achieve this, additional Maths Fluency sessions take place at least three times a week. These are short sessions of approximately 15 minutes, which focus on developing number fluency, as well as revisiting other mathematical concepts.
Multiplication Tables
Rapid recall of multiplication table facts can make a huge difference to children in their learning and the aim is for children to know their multiplication tables up to 12 x 12 by the end of Year 4. As well as teaching and regular practice of multiplication tables in class, our school subscribes to the Times Table Rockstars website for all children from Year 1 upward to help them practise at home.
