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Here at Whitefield, teachers and children are now using Power Maths (a textbook based scheme) to help them support their learning. The school has been using this as a key tool to help children develop a deep understanding of mathematical concepts from years 1 to 6. This is similar for our reception classes, who are provided with opportunities to explore maths within both the indoor and outdoor learning environments. In teaching for mastery, the focus is upon deepening understanding, not accelerating learning.
In addition to this, and to ensure they are ready to access further curriculum content, teachers also use the Ready to progress criteria (RTP) to support their planning and lesson delivery.
Whitefield also benefits from having a teacher who is also a primary maths mastery specialist. Mrs Phee leads a Teacher Research Group for local schools in partnership with the Enigma maths hub and the NCETM (National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics) and will support other schools across the local area in developing the mastery approach with them in addition to working with classes within our school.
As part of this, teachers at Whitefield work collaboratively with their colleagues and children to develop a structured lesson format that works well with our chosen Power Maths teacher materials alongside the RTP criteria. Teachers regularly observe mastery lessons and share good practice with others in school.
The mastery approach at Whitefield allows children to work together as a class on their fluency skills at very regular intervals. Some children will need further support with this area depending on their individual need and either the class teacher or teaching assistant will provide that support where appropriate. Children will then progress to an activity that allows them to consolidate their learning and apply their work in a new way. Children who are then confident and able to do so will then move to a problem that will give them the opportunity to work on their reasoning and application skills.
Mastery is for all of our children and these carefully designed tasks allow pupils to take time to practise key skills before deepening understanding with further challenges from the Power Maths practice books, textbooks or additional materials.
In addition to class-based activities and when circumstances allow, we also take part in the West Area partnership Times table challenge, as well as other maths competitions run by local businesses (Explore Learning for example). In previous years we have had finalists from Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 in the times table challenge.
TTRockstars
TTRockstars is a fun online game where children can practise their times tables in an exciting and interactive way.
Every child has a username and password for this, so they can log in at home on a laptop, tablet or phone. This has already been paid for by the school. A link for the website can be found here.
Education City
This is multi-subject online resource where children can play games, watch videos and practise mini-tests, in a variety of subjects areas including; maths, science, reading, spelling, punctuation and grammar.
Again, every child has a username and password for this, so they can log in at home on a laptop, tablet or phone. This has already been paid for by the school. A link for the website can be found here.