We appreciate the description of mathematics found in the National Curriculum which reads: ‘Mathematics is a creative and highly inter-connected discipline that has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems. It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. A high-quality mathematics education therefore provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.’
With regard to this description, we use the ‘Inspire’ mathematics scheme to deliver a high-quality mathematics education to children from Year 1 – Year 6. Inspire supports a ‘mastery’ approach to the teaching and learning of mathematics in these year groups, and enables our children to meet and exceed the high expectations of the National Curriculum.
To prepare children for this in the Early Years (Nursery and Reception), we combine ‘Firm Foundations’, a scheme and materials produced by Numicon, with the Barking and Dagenham scheme for early mathematics.
To ensure success for all, we match high expectations with comprehensive support for learners across the school. From Year 1 we provide additional individual and small group support as and when need arises. In Years 5 and 6 we group pupils by attainment and employ a specialist mathematics teacher to challenge our highest attaining pupils and to facilitate smaller classes.
