Maths… Can you remember any of your maths lessons at school? What were they like? We understand that the strategies we were taught when we were in school are often very different to the ones we are using now, therefore we have arranged this evening to hopefully aid you in helping your child with their mathematics. There are many reasons why the strategies we are teaching have changed. The main reason is that we want children to understand what they are doing and explain their steps; rather than learn a trick that gets the right answer.

Numeracy in Reception Fun Practical Personalised Child centredActive Focused objectives Problem Solvers

Development Matters Early Learning Goal - Numbers Children count reliably with numbers from one to 20. They place these numbers in order and say which number is one more or one less than a given number. Using quantities and objects, they add and subtract two single-digit numbers and count on or back to find the answer. They solve problems, including doubling, halving and sharing.

Development Matters Early Learning Goal – Shape Space and Measure Children use everyday language to talk about size, weight, capacity, position, distance, time and money to compare quantities and objects and to solve problems. They recognise, create and describe patterns. They explore characteristics of everyday objects and shapes and use mathematical language to describe them.

Compare Bears Numicon Money Containers

Key skills taught in the reception Year We believe that children need to have a secure grasp of number, understanding concepts such as 1:1 counting and place value before they can move on to other areas such as addition and subtraction. We provide opportunities for repetition within lessons and throughout the year as children don’t always learn first time round. We don’t move on too fast in order to ensure the children are solid in their knowledge before moving to the next step.

Mental Maths Mental Mathematics is a highly valued part of mathematical learning at St James Infant School. It happens in each class every day for approximately 15 minutes (depending on year group). The activities are quick and practical. For example in reception the children sing number rhymes, solve simple problems, help with the date chart, work out how many children are having school dinners or packed lunch or find shapes in the classroom. An example of a mental Maths session in reception…

Maths in Key Stage 1 Fun Practical Personalised Child centred Active Focused objectives Challenging

Numeracy in KS1 Scheme of work We have produced a scheme of work that is progressive. We provide opportunities for repetition within lessons and throughout the year as children don’t always learn first time round. We don’t move on too fast in order to ensure the children are solid in their knowledge before moving to the next step. Our top priority is ensuring progression in the children’s maths skills, enabling them to use previous learning to explore new concepts. We believe it is important that skills are taught, practiced and embedded so that the children are secure in using these skills as they progress through the school.

Base 10 Number squares Number lines Numicon Unifix cubes

Problem Solving At St James' Infant school we love learning about numbers, shape, space and measure in lots of different ways. One very important part of our maths learning is problem solving. As part of our creative curriculum, the children are set whole school maths investigations once every term alongside their usual topic based learning. Have a look on our website for some examples of maths problems we have solved so far…

Mental Maths In Key stage one activities will be initially focused around quick recall of number facts. Beginning with finding pairs to 10 and 20 and then extended to quick fire addition and subtraction. This is also a good time to reinforce the focus group teaching of mental strategies taught in focus groups. An example of a mental Maths session in Year 1 and Year 2