Chapel Street

At Chapel Street Primary School, we follow the DfE approved Power Maths scheme of work. In nursery, children are taught maths following the White Rose scheme which prepares the foundations and solid building blocks of mathematical knowledge to start their Power Maths journey in Reception. The White Rose scheme and Power Maths are in full alignment and support the teaching of mathematics at Chapel Street.

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Power Maths is an exciting new scheme built on the mastery approach. It incorporates White Rose Maths progressions and schemes of learning, and written specifically for UK curriculum schools and provides an enriched approach that combines interactive teaching tools, rich and quality textbooks and practice books. Most importantly, it is built on the belief that everyone can learn maths successfully.

How will the lessons work?

In a Power Maths lesson, it is all about problem solving, thinking and discussing. Each lesson has a progression, with a central flow that draws the main learning into focus. There are different elements, informed by research into best practice in maths teaching, that bring the lessons to life:

Discover – each lesson begins with a problem to solve, often a real-life example, sometimes a puzzle or a game. These are engaging and fun, and designed to get all children thinking.

Share – the class shares their ideas and compares different ways to solve the problem, explaining their reasoning with hands-on resources and drawings to make their ideas clear. Children are able to develop their understanding of the concept with input from the teacher.

Think together – the next part of the lesson is a journey through the concept, digging deeper and deeper so that each child builds on secure foundations while being challenged to apply their understanding in different ways and with increasing independence.

Practice – now children practice individually or in small groups, rehearsing and developing their skills to build fluency, understanding of the concept and confidence.

Reflect – finally, children are prompted to reflect on and record their learning from each session and show how they have grasped the concept explored in the lesson.

Within each lesson, 5 characters will help explore and support with the journey throughout your child’s mathematical journey in Chapel Street. These characters prompt, encourage and question the children. They spark curiosity, engage reasoning, secure understanding, and deepen learning for all. These characters are:

Subject Intent, Implementation and Impact

Intent

At Chapel Street, our aim is that:

children become confident, competent and independent mathematicians.
children build a deep conceptual understanding of Maths and its interrelated content so that they can apply their learning in different situations.
children’s ability to articulate, discuss and explain their thinking using appropriate mathematical vocabulary is developed across the school.
all children have a positive mind-set towards Maths.
children develop into resilient and inquisitive learners – with skills required to become life-long mathematicians.

Implementation

In order to meet the needs of our children, facilitate a mastery approach and improve the consistency of our Maths mastery standard of teaching and learning, we have implemented a program of study supported by the Power Math scheme. This is a DfE approved mastery scheme using high-quality textbooks. This is also fully aligned with the White Rose scheme which supports the school’s ongoing engagement with the DfE funded Maths Hubs.

Each year group follows a medium term plan where small, cumulative steps build a solid foundation of deep mathematical understanding. Formative assessment is embedded in each lesson, and appropriate revisions to planning are made by the class teacher to ensure all lessons best meet the needs of their children. Additional information is outlined in the Teaching and Learning Policy/

Our curriculum builds on the concrete, pictorial and abstract approach. By using all three of these stages, the children can explore and demonstrate their mathematical learning through a blend of collaborative and independent tasks. Together, these elements help to cement knowledge so that children truly understand what they have learnt and can apply their knowledge in a range of contexts. The overall aim of our Maths mastery curriculum is to promote a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of the subject, so that children become fluent in calculations; possess a growing confidence to reason mathematically and hone their problem-solving skills.

Every lesson provides the opportunity for children to show mastery and achieve greater depth within each unit. The practice stage provides rich and sophisticated problems alongside more scaffolded, exploratory problems allowing children to progress at their own pace. Children are not accelerated onto the next year group’s curriculum, but instead provided with opportunities for their knowledge to be broadened and deepened within their year group’s expectations.

Impact

Through the delivery of our Power Maths mastery scheme, children talk enthusiastically about Maths and are able to use mathematical language accurately within discussions. Within each lesson, opportunities for discussion are frequent and teachers continually use AfL techniques to ascertain the pupil’s level of understanding. Feedback is provided instantly within the lesson to help further learning and diminish the difference quickly and effectively.

The progress of children provides clear evidence of the impact of the teaching and learning. This is measured through formative assessment (through class discussions, questioning, activities and paired and independent tasks) and summative assessments carried out each term using Power Maths assessments and Star Maths. This is used to inform Pupil Progress meetings and allows staff to ensure that all children are achieving their full potential.

The desired impact of the Maths curriculum at Chapel Street is:

all children will have mastered key learning outcomes relevant to their year’s scheme of learning
all children will make good or outstanding progress from the starting point of their maths learning journey
all children will be fluent in their times tables
all children will be able to use mathematically rich vocabulary when participating in maths lessons
all children will be able to use key written and mental strategies to solve problems as outlined in the calculation policy

This impact will be measured by: