Mathematics
Introduction
At Breaside Preparatory School the teaching of Mathematics reflects the enormous depth and brevity of the subject. The dedicated Mathematics staff at the school provide challenging work that reflects the high standards that our children achieve in Mathematics.
The National Numeracy Strategy
Breaside Preparatory School is guided by the National Numeracy Strategy (NNS) to a large degree. A high priority is placed upon the development of basic skills at Breaside. We devote at least five hours of teaching time per week to the development of mathematical skills and understanding.
The NNS defines numeracy and the characteristics of the “numerate pupil” on p.4, Section 1. We accept those definitions and share the view expounded in the NNS of the factors that pronounce high standards in numeracy (pp.4-5)
Breaside has naturally developed its own approach to the teaching of Mathematics and we have thus selected the resources that we feel are best suited to our purpose, taking into account particular local conditions which might influence the organisation and pace of our curriculum.
The NNS is an extremely detailed and practical document. The broad framework is helpful in ensuring the balanced coverage of the Attainment Targets for Mathematics at Breaside – Number, Shape, Space and Measures: Handling Data.
It is important to understand that no separate programme of study is defined for ssing and applying Mathematics, as it should pervade each of the three Attainment Targets.
The Breaside Mathematics Curriculum achieves all of the requirements of the NNS and indeeds goes further – it comprehensively ensures that all pupils experience and develop an ability to apply their aquired skills and knowledge appropriately to a variety of mathematical situations.
Breaside serves the needs of a particular community and as such has its own approach to teaching and learning. We are however guided and informed in our approach by the ‘Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage’, by the National Curriculum orders for Key Stage 1 and 2 and by the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies. We enter our pupils for National Curriculum Key Stage 2 SATs and Key Stage 1 SATs therefore, we ensure thorough coverage of the knowledge, skills and understanding required for those tests.
A broad range of ability is evident amongst our pupils at Breaside. There will be those pupils for whom the agreed expectations will be a considerable challenge, others whose achievements will take them beyond the general expectation. Where it is approriate, work will be planned to differentiate (by task or by outcome) between pupils of varied ability. At Breaside, differentiation is also planned through ‘grouping’ or ‘setting’ strategies.
Aims – Breaside Mathematics
The Aims of our department include:
- Recognition and understanding of the ways in which children acquire mathematical understanding.
- Facilitation of the pupil’s Mathematical skills acquisition so that they are able to engage in practical activities, explorations and discussions to develop an understanding, knowledge of and love for Mathematics.
- Coherence and continuity – to ensure that at each successive stage, skills and knowledge are consolidated and built upon.
- Mathematics should be fun. Mathematics is a creative discipline and should be used to ‘..understand and change the world’ (NNS)
- We must help pupils (at particular stages) to develop appropriate examination ‘techniques’ and must provide opportunities for the practice of those techniques.
In summary our aim is to provide children with a comprehensive range of mental and written strategies, with mathematical understanding and with the ability to recognise, with confidence, the mathematics that must be applied to the solution of a variety of problems – a fusion of the mechanical and the creative.
More detailed information is available about each individual year group by clicking on the following links:
Year 3
National Curriculum guidelines for the teaching of Mathematics are followed, using the Heinemann Maths Scheme Level 4 and a wealth of independent resources. Cooperative work and a Problem Solving Approach is encouraged throughout Year 3 in order to develop the pupil’s knowledge and use of Mathematical Skills. The Year 3 curriculum follows the National Numeracy Strategy. Work is differentiated by task, so that children are working at their own levels of ability and pace. Extension and reinforcement work is given where necessary.
Mathematics equipment required:
- HE pencils
- sharpener
- eraser
- clear plastic 30cm ruler
- mathematics set including compass, protractor and set squares.
Attainment Targets
- Number
- Measure
- Shape and Handling Data
Key Objectives
- Daily mental maths tests
- Place value to 999
- Adding and subtracting hundreds, tens and units
- Revision of multiplication tables 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10
- Introduction of multiplication tables 6, 7, 8 and 9
- Multiplication using a calculator and multiplication patterns
- Division — sharing and grouping
- Division of tens and units by 2, 3, 4 and 5
- Money notation, coins, and problems up to £5.00
- Fractions and link with division
- Ordering and comparison of fractions
- Length, quarter metre, metres and centimetres
- Area, counting squares and half squares
- Area, square and half square centimetres
- Weight, grams, kilograms, and half kilograms
- Time – later and earlier, duration in hours and minutes
- Time – analogue and digital clocks
- Time – minutes past and minutes to, just before and just after
- Calendars and timetables
- Volume, litres and half litres
- 3D shape, shapes of faces, corners and edges
- Using grid references to read and plot locations
- One and two lines of symmetry
- Tiling, using triangles, squares, rectangles and hexagons
- Right angles, pathways, turning clockwise and anticlockwise
- 4 point and 8 point compass
- Handling data, extracting and organizing information
- Interpreting and drawing bar graphs and pictograms
- Survey, collecting, organizing and displaying data
Year 4
National Curriculum guidelines for the teaching of Mathematics are followed, using the Heinemann Maths Scheme Level 5 and a wealth of independent resources. Cooperative work and a Problem Solving Approach is encouraged throughout Year 4 in order to develop the pupil’s knowledge and use of Mathematical Skills. The Year 4 curriculum follows the National Numeracy Strategy. Work is differentiated by task, so that children are working at their own levels of ability and pace. Extension and reinforcement work is given where necessary.
Mathematics equipment required:
- JIB pencils
- sharpener
- eraser
- clear plastic 30cm ruler
- mathematics set including compass, protractor and set squares
Attainment Targets
- Number
- Space and Shape
- Data Handling
Key Objectives
- Daily mental maths tests
- Place value to 9999
- Add, subtract, multiply and divide to 1000
- Money problems up to £20.00
- Fractions and equivalent fractions
- Decimal fractions, add subtract, multiply and divide up to 9 and
rules for multiply and divide by 10
- Use Distributive law for multiplying by 11 to 19 and
multiplication by multiples of 10
- Time, am and pm, calendars and timetables
- Meters and cms, number work and practical measurement
- Area, cm squared and half cm squared
- Weight, grams and kilograms, number work and practical work
- Volume, litres and ml, number work and practical work
- Coordinates and grids
- Symmetry and mirror images, pattern work in connection
- Tilings, hexagons, kites and other shapes
Year 5
National Curriculum guidelines for the teaching of Mathematics are followed, using the Heinemann Maths Scheme Level 6 and a wealth of independent resources. Cooperative work and a Problem Solving Approach is encouraged throughout Year 5 in order to develop the pupil’s knowledge and use of Mathematical Skills. The Year 5 curriculum follows the National Numeracy Strategy. Work is differentiated by task, so that children are working at their own levels of ability and pace. Extension and reinforcement work is given where necessary.
Mathematics Equipment required:
- HB pencils
- sharpener
- clear plastic 30cm ruler
- eraser
- mathematics set including compass, protractor and set squares
Attainment Targets
- Number and the number system
- Calculations
- Solving Problems
- Handling Data
- Measures, shape and space
Key Objectives
- Multiply and divide any positive integer up to 10000 by 10 or 100 and understand the effect
- Order a given set of positive and negative integers
- Use decimal notation for tenths and hundredths
- Round a number with one or two decimal places to the nearest integer
- Relate fractions to division and to their decimal representations
- Use decimal notation for tenths and hundredths
- Round a number with one or two decimal places to the nearest integer
- Relate fractions to their decimal representations
- Calculate mentally a difference such as 8006 – 2993
- Carry out column addition and subtraction of positive integers less than 10000
- Know by heart all multiplication facts up to 10 x 10
- Carry out short multiplication and division of three-digits by a single-digit integer. Carry out long multiplication and division of two-digits by a two-digit integer
- Understand area measured in square centimeters (cm2), understand and use the formula in words ‘length x breadth’ for the area of a rectangle
- Recognize parallel and perpendicular lines and properties of rectangles
- Use all four operations to solve simple word problems involving number and quantities , including time, explaining methods and reasoning
Year 6
National Curriculum guidelines for the teaching of Mathematics are followed, using the Heinemann Maths Scheme Level 7 and a wealth of independent resources. Cooperative work and a Problem Solving Approach is encouraged throughout Year 6 in order to develop the pupil’s knowledge and use of Mathematical Skills. The Year 6 curriculum follows the National Numeracy Strategy. Work is differentiated by task, so that children are working at their own levels of ability and pace. Extension and reinforcement work is given where necessary.
Mathematics Equipment required:
- RB pencils
- sharpener
- clear plastic 30cm ruler
- eraser
- mathematics set including compass, protractor and set squares
Attainment Targets
- Number and the number system
- Calculations
- Solving Problems
- Handling Data
- Measures, shape and space
Key Objectives
- Multiply and divide decimals mentally by 10 or 100, and integers by 1000, and explain the effect
- Reduce a fraction to its simplest form by canceling common factors
- Use a fraction as an operator to find fractions of numbers or quantities
- Solve simple problems involving. Ratio and proportion
- Order a mixed set of numbers with up to three decimal places
- Understand percentage as the number of parts in every 100
- Find simple percentages of small whole-number quantities
- Extend written methods to column addition and subtraction of numbers involving decimals
- Derive quickly: Division facts corresponding to tables up to 10 x 10
- Extend written methods to: Short multiplication of numbers involving decimals; long multiplication of a three-digit by a two-digit integer; short division of numbers involving decimals
- Explain methods and reasoning
- Solve a problem by representing, extracting and interpreting data in tables, graphs, charts and diagrams, including those generated by a computer
- Use, read and write standard metric units (1cm, m, cm, mm, kg, g, mg, 1, ml, cl.), including their abbreviations, and relationships between unit
- Calculate the perimeter and area of simple compound shapes that can be split into rectangles
- Read and plot co-ordinates in all four quadrants
- Use a protractor to measure and draw acute and obtuse angles to the nearest degree
- Identify and use appropriate operations (including combinations of operations) to solve word problems involving numbers and quantities
- Explain methods and reasoning