Intent: why do we  teach what we teach?

Every pupil is a mathematician at KSA. We want children to think like mathematicians and not just do the maths. A strong understanding of mathematical concepts like number sense, pattern finding, generalising and problem solving are key to being successful in other academic pursuits as well as in wider society.  As a result, by equipping students with the tools to be a good mathematician, we are also giving them more freedom to be successful at university at beyond.  At KSA we believe the best way to do this is to get the basics right first by spending enough time to explore, understand and become fluent with foundational ideas before moving on to more complex ideas.

 

To achieve this we have adopted the Maths Mastery curriculum, which we currently follow from Reception to Year 9. The Maths Mastery curriculum is cumulative – meaning that mathematical concepts that are taught earlier in curriculum are later revisited in the context of a new area of mathematics. This gives pupils the opportunity to ‘master maths’ by using previous learning throughout the school year, allowing them to develop mathematical fluency and conceptual understanding through building important connections and developing an appreciation for the delicate, interwoven nature of the subject of mathematics.

 

In EYFS, the curriculum starts from the very basics and works our way slowly up to ensure that students most at risk of underachievement start their life at KSA with every chance of being successful. It means their mathematical journey at KSA starts at an accessible point and that along the way we can catch students as and when they end up demonstrating that they need extra support. In Nursery, pupils develop key mathematical skills such as counting through songs, games and activities using concrete and pictorial representations. These early mathematical experiences are then rehearsed and applied to their own learning during exploration.

 

In Primary, each year group has a set of non-negotiable skills, e.g. column addition and subtraction with regrouping, which each child needs to master in order to be ready for the next year’s mathematical learning. These skills are explained in a knowledge organiser which is shared with children and parents at the start of the year and are continually practiced in daily Do Nows and any other opportunities teachers find to ensure all children become fluent in them.

 

In Key Stage 3, students continue to follow the Maths Mastery curriculum in mixed attainment classes, ensuring that all students continue to be exposed to the full higher tier curriculum until the end of Year 9. This gives every student, regardless of prior attainment, the opportunity to achieve grade 5+ at GCSE. Lead by the Key Stage 3 Lead, the team use a combination of the Maths Mastery resources and the Pilot ARK prototypes to tailor the learning for each class, providing scaffolding and depth according to the needs of their learners. The principles of Maths Mastery of conceptual understanding, language and communication and mathematical thinking can be seen in all Key Stage 3 Maths lessons.

 

In Key Stage 4, we are following a legacy curriculum that has been built over many years at KSA. This curriculum has since been adapted to support Year 10 and 11 prepare for the Edexcel GCSE exams following the disruption to education caused by the pandemic. Units are designed to build on content learnt in KS3, allowing students to apply their knowledge and skills to solve a range of new problems and increasingly complex and abstract topics, preparing them for A-Level study. Tiering decisions are made at the end of Year 9, meaning that students receive a tailored curriculum throughout Key Stage 4 best suited to help them prepare for their GCSE exams with confidence in either a higher or foundation group. We are looking forward to starting the Key Stage 4 Maths Mastery curriculum in September 2022.

 

In Key Stage 5, we have a substantial A-Level Maths cohort each year who follow the Edexcel A-Level Maths course which provides them with highly transferable skills and knowledge in the fields of pure mathematics, statistics and mechanics. We have a small but committed Further Maths cohort each year who study the Edexcel Further Maths curriculum alongside their Maths A-Level, to ensure that they are prepared for highly numerical courses at university such as Mathematics, Engineering and Economics. Our Key Stage 5 provision is supplemented with Core Maths to provide all students with an opportunity to study Maths beyond GCSE to ensure that they leave KSA with the skills and knowledge required for university study.

Implementation: how do we teach what we teach?

The maths curriculum is driven by the maths leaders of the school through the embedding of long-term curriculum overviews following the Maths Mastery unit order and the development of medium-term plans by subject leaders. In primary, maths is led by an Assistant Principal with a middle leader maths lead. The secondary maths department is line managed by a very experienced Vice Principal, led by a Head of Department (HoD) and supported by a Key Stage 3 lead. With the belief that any pupil attainment gaps that might emerge are down to a provision gap, all LTPs and MTPs are created centrally by curriculum leaders, with teacher’s taking ownership in adapting these plans for their own classes each year. Through weekly line management meetings, the HoD can ensure there is a high quality of lesson planning/preparation occurring and that content is being covered at the right rate. Weekly maths Intellectual Preparation led by a senior leader in primary ensures all primary teachers are maths teachers.

Maths Mastery lessons follow a six-part structure of a Do Now, New Learning, Talk Task, Develop Learning, Independent Task and Plenary – our teachers use this as a basis for their planning, adapting it as necessary to meet the needs of each pupil in each lesson. Do Now’s which recap previously learnt content and non-negotiable skills are becoming embedded. Developing rounds of deliberate practice in lessons is a subject priority that leaders have been developing this year. In primary, we also teach Maths Meetings designed to consolidate key areas of mathematics or introduce new topics, these occur 3-5 times a week for 15–30 minutes.

One of the foundations of Maths Mastery is that all pupils always work to the same learning objective every lesson: we are all climbing the same mountain. Teachers plan for the fact that some students will need more scaffolding; others will require a greater challenge.  In maths we aim to meet the academic needs of all learners every lesson through the use of differentiated questioning with simpler questions being directed at children who need to build a sense of success and more complex reasoning questions used to check pupil understanding. Pupils in Key Stages 1-3 learn in a carefully planned mixed-attainment seating plan and teachers have a data-driven well-worn path around the room to assess pupils’ knowledge and understanding quickly and adapt teaching effectively at point of learning and/or misconception using over-the-shoulder feedback to pupils or live class re-teaching. Where necessary. concrete and pictorial representations are used to support learners to understand mathematical concepts and, if pupils have not understood learning in a lesson, teachers aim to take them out for a same day intervention to review this learning and support children to tackle misconceptions.

Allocations and Pupil Work:

Year	Weekly Lessons	Classwork	Homework	Review Tasks
YN-R	4 whole class maths meetings 15 minutes Daily maths focus activity	Concrete manipulatives Maths focus area Learning journals	Homework books
Y1-4	4/5 50-60min lessons 5 x 15-20 min Maths Meetings	Books Whiteboards Multiplication TTRS packs	Daily homework books Timetables Rockstars website Mathletics online
5-6	5 50min lessons + 3 x 25 min Maths Meeting
7	6	Books	Sheets + Hegarty	Books
8	5	Books	Sheets + Hegarty	Books
9	5	Books	Sheets + Hegarty	Books
10	5/6/6	Books	Sheets + Hegarty	Books
11	5/6/6	Books	Sheets + Hegarty	Books
A-Level Maths	5	Folders	Folders + Online	Folders
A-Level Further Maths	5	Folders	Folders + Online	Folders

Subject specific CPD:

In both primary and secondary, we have three online Development Sessions each year. The sessions involve a Maths Mastery specialist joining subject leaders for a review of teaching and learning and help to inform subject priorities across the ARK network. All maths PD sessions have an emphasis on the team engaging with some maths to develop subject knowledge. Teachers receive termly PD linked to school priorities and weekly individual coaching based on drop-ins, planning scrutiny and book looks. This is further reinforced through exam exposure, marking and moderation. Mathematical themes are explored in each department meeting to help refresh and improve teacher’s ideas of what it means to both do and teach mathematics. The KS3 Maths lead also runs a weekly Maths Mastery meeting for KS3 teachers to allow for joint planning and discussion of key mathematical models alongside regular wider department meetings. By attending, and at times hosting, CPD sessions, subscribing to professional communities like the ATM and engaging in their literature, being active on professional aspects on social media and engaging with educational literature we are attempting to ensure that everything from our long-term planning to our in-lesson interactions are informed, in part, by educational and scientific theory as well as at times drawing on the knowledge of more experienced others where appropriate.

Impact: how do we know what pupils have learnt and how well they have learnt it?

The table below summarises the formative and summative assessments that take place in all year groups:

Year group	Formative Assessment	Summative Assessment		Frequency
Year 1	Well Worn Path feedback Daily marking Pre and post unit quizzes	Maths Mastery Assessments		Termly
Year 2 - 6		Maths Mastery Assessments		Termly
		Arithmetic		Half termly
Year 7-9	Exit ticket		Every lesson
	Extended exit ticket		Every 6 lessons
	End of topic test		Half Termly
	Cumulative assessment		Termly
Year 10-11	Exit ticket		Every lesson
	Extended exit ticket		Every 6 lessons
	End of topic test		End of each topic (roughly one per half term)
	Cumulative assessment		Termly
Year 12-13	Tri-weekly assessment		Twice a half term

Curriculum leaders think hard about how to maximise the impact of feedback on pupil progress while ensuring teacher workload is not too high. Teachers continually assess pupil learning within lessons and give over the shoulder feedback to ensure progress is made. Whiteboard based checks are used each lesson for understanding tasks to assess whether children are ready to complete their independent task. If children are not ready, teachers re-model learning to small groups and address any misconceptions. Termly pupil work reviews and additional planned book reviews with leaders monitor the quality of pupil work, the extent to which learning is being effectively facilitated and the consistency with which feedback is being given and acted upon.

In primary, in Years 1 to 6, pupils sit Maths Mastery assessments three times a year. These test pupils against the curriculum they have been taught and allows us to assess the retention of knowledge from that term and therefore appropriately adapt our plans for future teaching. Pupils from Years 2 to 6 sit arithmetic tests every half term. This data allows us to track pupil progress and target our teaching towards arithmetic concepts children are not fluent in. Subject leaders compare this data to the Ark average and across year groups to ensure support is targeted to the right year groups and the right areas. We also ensure children sit short pre and post-unit quizzes before and after each new unit of work. This allows us to have an accurate picture of how much knowledge is being carried forward from previous years and adapt our planning and teaching of that unit accordingly. The post-unit quizzes give us a clear picture of how much each pupil has learnt in that unit and where any misconceptions or gaps in knowledge remain, we are then able to plan to address those in maths meetings and future lessons to ensure they don’t remain as gaps.

In secondary, the use of exit tickets each lesson inform teacher planning as the teacher is aware of whether the class is ready to move on, planning a re-teach lesson if necessary. Students receive feedback on their weekly extended exit tickets and end of topic tests alongside a feedback activity to help them address their highest leverage learning gap and improve their understanding. With the cumulative assessment, in addition to being formative, results are compared with students from across the Ark network and thus give the teacher an idea of how well the student is performing in relation to a large cohort. This enables us to broadly know if each individual student’s progress matches, exceeds or is under where we’d like it to be.  In turn, this lets us know if the quality of teaching the class is receiving is in line with our mission of preparing students for success at university and beyond.  In the long run, where areas of weakness can be seen across the whole class/cohort this is analysed and, where appropriate, MTPs/LTPs are adjusted to improve the provision for the following year.