Curriculum - Maths

At Woodlands Infant and Nursery School we aim to make maths meaningful, exciting and engaging. We place great emphasis upon developing the key skills in mathematics in order to solve problems in a wide range of real-life situations.

There are daily mathematics lessons for all children which are structured to include whole class, group and individual work.

Mental maths and problem solving are a key part of every lesson. Through the use of a clear progression of mental and written methods, children develop a deeper understanding and the skills to carry out calculations independently. The expectation is that the majority of children will move through the areas of learning at broadly the same pace. Decisions about when to progress will be based on the security of children’s understanding and their readiness to progress to the next stage. Children are challenged through being offered rich and sophisticated problems that become increasingly more complex.

When investigating mathematically, we encourage our children to reason, generalise and make sense of problems. We aim to foster fluency in written and mental calculations and mathematical strategies. Our learning focuses on understanding the mathematical language and symbols accurately in work and children are encouraged to use this when discussing their work with others.

We aim to ensure that all children have developed a thorough understanding of the skills taught in order for them to become confident and competent in their mathematics ability.

Manipulatives

A manipulative is a physical object that can be touched and moved. Manipulatives are used to support the teaching and learning of mathematics. Examples of manipulatives that the children use regularly to support their learning and understanding of mathematical concepts include Numicon, counters, cubes and Dienes blocks.