Atlas Astrea Academy Trust
Mathematics (maths)
Without mathematics there is nothing you can do. Everything around you is mathematics. Everything around you is numbers. (Shakuntala Devi)
At Atlas Academy we expect the highest aspirations for our pupils. We want all children to learn and make academic progress no matter their starting points. We have a clear vision for what we want pupils to achieve during their time at Atlas and have designed our curriculum to give all pupils the knowledge, skills and understanding they will need in their future years.
Curriculum Intent Statement
The value of a high-quality mathematics education is well recognised for its importance both to the individual and to society. Being competent in mathematics is key for functioning within a community and being a productive part of the workforce. The study of mathematics reaches beyond this and ‘provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, appreciation for the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.’ (National Curriculum). At Atlas Academy we intend for our pupils to make sense of the mathematics they are learning; that they will have more memorable and enjoyable experiences that are more likely to be remembered in the long term. They will also be able to do more as they understand how to push the boundaries of what they know and apply it to solve problems.
Quality of Education (Implementation)
At Atlas Academy, we have adopted a knowledge rich maths curriculum that allows for cumulative development of both knowledge and skills. We use My Mastery from Ark Curriculum to support our delivery of a cumulative curriculum that helps learners to make connections between different mathematical concepts. Retrieving, using and applying concepts regularly, transferring to new contexts helps develop fluency as well as conceptual understanding.
Teachers deliver a full hour maths lesson every day and also allow 15 minutes each day for a ‘Maths Meeting’ to visit any topics they feel relevant.
Our Mastery Curriculum seeks to develop our key driver of Vocabulary Acquisition with more conversation going on in lessons because pupils are actively encouraged to articulate, justify and explain their thinking, both as individuals and in groups. Lessons provide opportunities to explore, investigate and debate ideas using objects and images, and pupils will be enabled to make meaningful connections in mathematics.
Our Mastery Curriculum is underpinned by 3 dimensions of depth: Conceptual Understanding, Language and Communication and Mathematical Thinking and these are evident through:
- A cumulative curriculum that builds upon learning, allowing pupils to make deep connections across topics
- Use of multiple representations throughout to strengthen conceptual understanding
- Emphasis on learning, and confidently using language to communicate mathematical problems
- Use of careful questioning to encourage students to build mathematical habits of mind
Impact
Because learning is a change to long-term memory it is impossible to see impact in the short term. In maths, is expected that evidence of the children’s study will be recorded in work books which can include the work, or photographs of the work they produce each lesson. These activities are all provided for in lesson to lesson planning. In maths, we will assess pupils’ work termly using a pupil tracker which contributes towards a termly summative assessment of how pupil’s responses (written or verbal) may be presented at different levels (working towards, working at or working beyond), as appropriate to children’s age and stage.
In addition, we measure impact of mathematics through:
- lesson observations – how well children are learning and how they explain mathematical understanding;
- learning walks – how well the curriculum intent is embedded
- book looks – as part of triangulation with learning walks and assessments
- pupil voice – enables us to listen to pupils’ views about their learning and how well curriculum content is taught and understood;
- assessment data tracking by the mathematics subject leader
Maths Mastery
Click here to find out more about Maths Mastery (Ark)