Intent

At Djanogly Northgate Academy, we see the study of Mathematics as a subject which encourages our children to discover patterns, to work together to solve problems, and to persevere when we find things challenging. 

We know that Mathematics opens the door to many exciting and aspirational careers in Science, Technology and Engineering but we also know that Mathematics can empower all of our children to succeed in the ordinary and every day, from calculating measurements to managing money. 

Finally, Mathematics invites children to solve problems and communicate their own reasoning, giving them high self-esteem, a respect for others’ opinions and ensuring that they think of themselves as leaders of their own learning. 

We use our values in school to drive our Mathematics curriculum and help shape all our children to be mathematicians.

Discover - We notice patterns, ask curious questions and experiment with new methods. 

Nurture - We are respectful of different opinions and methods, collaborate to overcome challenges and take responsibility for our learning behaviours.

Aspire - We keep trying even when we find things tricky, aim to challenge ourselves and take pride when we succeed.

We use a mastery approach to ensure every child can achieve their potential.

 

We foster deep knowledge of numbers to encourage fluency.

 

We build strong early maths foundations with a focus on spatial awareness, subitising and everyday experiences of maths.

 

We build on those foundations throughout school, making maths relevant using representations of maths in everyday life, building mathematical pictures, encouraging language and using symbols to express ourselves.

 

We firmly believe that maths should include everyone, and encourage all our learners to participate in a full and engaging curriculum.

Implementation

At DNA we follow a systematic progression of small steps written by White Rose Maths so that every Maths lesson builds upon the next. We ensure we cover the whole range of the National Curriculum over each year with long term plans, some of which repeat more difficult topics for embedding. 

We use a wide variety of representations such as real life stories, mathematical objects and pictures and the language we use so that concepts are embedded for life. We plan how we will represent key mathematical concepts carefully, using representation maps. 

We then plan each lesson carefully to ensure a wide range of these representations, building strong connections across each, so that children have these associations for life. 

Our lessons follow a consistent format of:

Ignite - Recapping what we have already learned which will help us today.

Discover - Finding out what we do and don't know yet about our small step today by looking at a problem.

Teach and Explain - Our teacher teaches us something new and we start to practise.

Apply - We have independent practise time in books or practically. We have simple questions, all very similar, so that we get lots of practise. Once we are confident, our teacher moves us on to a style of question called the Flip which gets us thinking about our learning in a slightly different way.  We love getting stuck into the Flip!

Reflect - We use our learning to solve a problem! We work whole class, using our collaborative learning skills, noticing patterns and stay resilient.

Once a term, we also have a project style lesson. This focusses on problem solving skills and promotes Greater Depth learning. We believe good teaching for children working at Greater Depth is good teaching for all and want all of our children to experience rich experiences in problem solving, and so we teach this whole class. 

Fluency

Having a deep knowledge of numbers, knowing numbers' place in our number system and being able to manipulate numbers automatically is hugely important for mathematical learning. It reduces confusion and overload and increases confidence. 

We encourage a deep knowledge of numbers from nursery, ensuring children subitise instead of count for amounts under 3 and are encouraged to play with numbers. This builds through Reception where children gradually increase their knowledge of numbers up to 10 and are able to talk about and recall fluently number bonds within 10.

Building on this again in Key Stage 1, we encourage strategies and number knowledge up to 20, and then up to 100 in Year 3. This gives our children a solid number sense to build on for the rest of their mathematical journey. We have Numbots as a school for you to practise at home although we also love board games and talking about patterns as a way to boost mathematical knowledge too! All you need is paper, a dice and something to hold your place with!

Starting in late Year 3, our children use the Number Sense programme to learn their times tables. A mixture of chanting and conceptual lessons, this enables our children to have the fluency needed to tackle more difficult concepts such as equivalent fractions and long division in Year 5 and 6.

We use a mixture of flashcards and TT Rockstars to support extra practise and every child has an account for this to practise at home. 

Impact

When our children leave Djanogly Northgate they will be confident and enthusiastic mathematicians, ready to take the next step on their learning journey.

They will:

• have a deep knowledge of number which will set them up for fluency for life
• be fascinated with a range of mathematical concepts and be keen to learn more
• be able to articulate their points of view and listen to others respectfully
• have developed good practise skills such as focus, organisation and resilience
• have a lifelong interest in numbers, patterns and problem solving