Mathematics

Why we teach Mathematics

Maths helps children understand the world around them — from telling the time and measuring ingredients to spotting patterns and solving problems. It develops logical thinking, resilience and independence. Learning maths well builds strong foundations that children will rely on in later life and across other curriculum subjects.

How we teach Mathematics at OPS

We teach maths using a mastery approach, which focuses on developing a deep understanding before moving on.

• Children explore concepts using practical resources such as counters, cubes and place value blocks.
• They then move to pictures and diagrams, before learning formal written methods.
• Children practise fluency, take part in reasoning discussions and solve real-life problems.
• Teachers encourage children to explain their thinking, try different strategies and see mistakes as opportunities to learn.

What we want children to learn

We want children to develop a secure sense of number, understand key mathematical ideas and feel confident when faced with a challenge. They learn to use maths flexibly and apply their skills to new situations with increasing independence.

Knowledge Organisers

At OPS, we follow the Power Maths scheme; these knowledge organises are taken from their resources.

Knowledge organisers include the key information and vocabulary that are required to fully understand a topic. The information in the knowledge organisers are the minimum that should be known, rehearsed and, ultimately, remembered. It is a given that plenty of other technical vocabulary and facts will be encountered and learnt throughout the topic.

Pupils will benefit from learning some of this material ahead of time – by having an initial grounding in a topic, children will enter lessons more able to participate and will be more able to make links to prior learning.