Vision
At Devoran, we follow the Primary Advantage Curriculum for Mathematics, which covers the new National curriculum. Mathematics is an essential life skill and we want all our children to feel confident and enjoy using their mathematical skills. Children at Devoran are encouraged to develop a thorough understanding of the knowledge and skills through a concrete approach to learning. As their knowledge, understanding and skills develop, we extend and challenge them to apply their skills into real life situations through deepening their conceptual understanding. We place great importance in making sure that mathematics is interwoven into all subject areas taught at Devoran.
Curriculum
Daily maths lessons lay the foundations for this critical life skill as teachers follow the popular and effective PA Maths programme. It follows the new National curriculum and uses the Singapore approach to Mastery. The Concrete-Pictorial-Abstract approach is encouraged and the PA programme details clearly how this can be achieved for each learning objective to allow the children to explore mathematical concepts contextually.
Maths lessons occur daily. Children usually cover a theme each week and planning ensures that all learner’s needs are met. Maths lessons are designed to be interactive with a significant emphasis on children’s talk. Fluency, reasoning and problem solving are three themes of the maths National Curriculum and inform all maths teaching at Devoran.
‘Check its’ are used to assess the children’s ability to apply mathematical concepts from previous lessons. ‘Beat its’ are used daily to improve pace and mental skills and ‘Prove its’ and ‘Test its’ are being used to further evidence mastery and show end of unit progress.
The PA Maths programme supports progression throughout the primary years and has a strong CPA thread running throughout. This means that children are exposed to conceptual ideas at a concrete level with a range of apparatus (e.g. counters, beads, Dienes and Numicon) before moving on to pictorial representations. This may mean diagrams, sketches or using the Singapore bar model to solve problems. Doing so develops children’s deep conceptual understanding and skills proficiency which supports the next move into abstract mathematics, such as long division.
Maths lessons are designed to be interactive with a significant emphasis on children’s talk. Through discussing their ideas, children construct new understanding, engage in a supportive community of practice, take responsibility for their learning and allow the teacher a window into their thinking which enables appropriate action to help them progress. Fluency, reasoning and problem solving are three themes of the maths National Curriculum (DfE 2014) and inform all maths teaching at Devoran.
Teachers and support staff provide targeted support and assessment to help all children make good progress in maths.
