Maths

'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me' – Philippians4:13


We have a vision for everyone at Bridgemere to be lifelong learners; trying their best, enduring tough times with hope and courage and being open to new experiences.

We believe that God helps us to grow, especially through challenges, we therefore value resilience. In order to flourish, we aim to support every child and adult with the diverse challenges of everyday life.

• perseverance, creativity, trust, compassion, friendship, community, responsibility, thankfulness

As a Church of England school we believe that good education must promote life in all its fullness.
Throughout all of our maths lessons we encourage all children to try their best, to show resilience and perseverance even when they find things difficult and to feel proud and inspired in each and every lesson.


Our Maths Vision -developing the mathematical mind through challenge, investigation, understanding and calculation and applying this, where possible, to the real world.

Our Principles of Maths Teaching

• Our curriculum and learning relates to the real world through the Singapore Maths programme

Children show a variety of mathematical concepts and develop these through reasoning and problem solving

• Children enjoy and are engaged in varied interactive lessons and tasks, using a wide range of resources
• Children are motivated by challenging yet achievable work
• We work both mentally and using written methods
• Children feel respected and confident and actively contribute to lessons, furthering their own learning and of those around them
• To ensure all children gain fluency and confidence in number

OUR AIM
At Bridgemere we aim for the children to leave school at the end of Key Stage 2 with a strong ability to perform a range of mathematical skills and use and apply them across a range of contexts. We achieve this by increasing the children's number sense, alongside developing their confidence and independence. A consistent and progressive approach to the teaching of mathematics, following the Singapore Maths approach, provides children with the opportunityto encounter and discuss concepts – in depth.Children follow the CPA approach (concrete, pictorial and abstract) – which allows all learners to access mathematics in their own way, developingboth accuracy and understanding, leading in turn to high quality reasoning and masters of mathematics.

In EYFS, we ensure that Maths is part of their daily diet and give the children a wide range of experiences and opportunities to apply their mathematical skills. In order for the mastery approach to become successful in KS1 and KS2, by Summer term the children adopt a 'Singapore maths' approach to their lessons, problem solving in a range of different ways, using concrete resources and being challenged through questioning, which enables them to understand and be prepared for what will be expected of them in the next stage of learning.

WHY SINGAPORE MATHS?
Following extensive pedagogical research about teaching mathematics, we were particularly inspired by the approach of Ban Har Yeap and his focus on all children being 'mathematicians', with a solid conceptual understanding, rather than children who learn mathematical procedures. We use the National Curriculum as well as Singapore Maths to support our teaching and learning. Every day the Maths problem the children discuss is set in a real life, practical context.

It promotes spending greater time delving in depth in particular areas/concepts as opposed to quickly moving through the curriculum and the year group objectives. Everyone is given time to think deeply about the Maths, and solve problems in a variety of ways. They are able to challenge themselves and choose methods which appeal to them. We feel this develops a positive attitude, encourages resilience and provides a sense of achievement for the children.
Lessons are scaffolded to support struggling learners and rich, sophisticated problems are set to challenge advanced learners.
We strive for our pupils to be confident mathematicians, who experience the full richness of an exciting and varied Maths curriculum. Through the Singapore Maths approach the children learn in a fun and practical way, which ensures they have a concrete understanding of concepts before moving on. Our approach to teaching Maths enables children to work collaboratively, communicate their ideas clearly and problem solve effectively.

TIMES TABLES
Children in Year 4 will now complete a 'Multiplication Times Tables Check' set by the government which determines which pupils can recall all of their times tables fluently.
Every class completes a 'daily practice' session within their maths session, which enables the children to practise every day- for at least 10 minutes- important number skills. It allows children to practice, consolidate and embed number work (such as multiplication, division, subtraction, addition, fractions etc...) that they have learnt in their previous and current years. Times tables can also be a focus in specific year groups.
We also encourage children to use 'Times Tables Rockstars' at home as this is a fun and progressive way to quickly recall their tables. Teachers can set specific times tables for your child to focus on at home