At Turnham Academy, we want every child to develop a deep and lasting understanding of mathematics. Our curriculum is carefully sequenced so that learning builds step by step, enabling pupils to feel confident and secure in their knowledge rather than relying on rote procedures.
Key features of the Maths curriculum:
7 part lesson –
- Engagement and recall activity - quadrant
- Vocabulary focus
- New learning – I do
- Guided practice – We do
- Hinge point – talk
- Independent learning – You do
- Exit pass
Small incremental steps
New learning is broken into small steps, so every pupil builds on something secure.
CPA
Concrete, pictorial, abstract approach – manipulatives, images and Widgits are for every pupil, with sentence stems to support talk.
Fluency, reasoning, problem solving
These work together as an interconnected system to build deep understanding and high-level thinking.
Fluency is the foundation. The fast, accurate, and flexible recall of facts, procedures, and core methods (such as number bonds and times tables). Working memory is limited. If pupils have to spend all their brainpower calculating basic facts from scratch, they run out of mental space for harder thinking. Fluency frees up cognitive load so they can focus on the bigger picture.
Reasoning is the bridge. The logical thinking that explains the why and how. It includes spotting patterns, testing ideas, justifying steps, and proving rules. Reasoning connects individual facts into a sensible network, allowing pupils to adapt a known method to a new situation.
Problem solving is the goal. The pupils apply known skills, concepts, and strategies to unfamiliar, real-world, or non-routine challenges.
Maths meetings
These help children build lasting fluency, number sense, and confidence with key concepts.
Assessment in maths
Teachers assess through the quadrants that start lessons, hinge point questions, listening to the structured talk within lessons, and through checking white boards in maths meetings. There is summative assessment termly for Y1-5, and half termly for Y6.
Philosophy and overarching principles in Maths
- Collaboration supports mastery
Children learn through collaboration. The opportunity to work with others supports understanding and encourages the development of problem solving and reasoning skills.
- Depth is prioritised over breadth
Each topic is explored in greater depth and in a variety of ways; a topic is only considered complete when the children’s knowledge is secure.
- All children move on together
Children progress through learning at broadly the same pace, with opportunities for faster graspers to deepen their understanding.
The ability to solve a calculation is not enough; children must be able to demonstrate and articulate their understanding of the mathematical concept.
Key features of the Maths curriculum:
- Coherent, carefully sequenced learning steps: the structure and essence of teaching for mastery is a cycle of assessing and teaching, assessing and teaching. The following list reflects the stages of delivering an instructional sequence: Assess the prerequisites, teach any necessary prerequisites, teach the learning steps, intervene for pupils who need support, assess the unit. Each part of the instructional sequence is a series of linked learning steps that supports the children accessing and progressing mathematically.
- Language, talk and articulation: Language is the stuff of thought. Without having a word for something, it can be very difficult to think about it. Stem sentences are used consistently across all phases. It supports in drawing pupil’s attention to particular aspects of the learning and encourages accurate maths talk. Pupils are given opportunities to talk to articulate their thinking and reasoning (I say, you say, we say/ pupil to teacher/ pupil to pupil talk.
- Conceptual variation: the mathematical concept is presented in a variety of ways so children are able to discern the essential features.
- Multiple representations: a variety of manipulative and pictorial representations have been used to explain the mathematical concept.
- Procedural variation: questions have been chosen with care to demonstrate a particular concept, ensuring that calculations are more than simply finding an answer, but about understanding patterns and concepts too.
- Depth for all: every child in the lesson has the opportunity to apply their key learning through extension, application, reasoning and problem solving.
- Scaffolding and adaptation: support is available for those who need it (scaffolding through support, scaffolding through time, scaffolding though activity).
Delivery
Collaboration
- Talk tasks in groups or pairs to develop understanding
- Activity design and learning steps encourage working with peers to problem solve and reason using manipulatives or talk
- Transition time between activities used for mathematical chants, rhymes or songs
Communication
- Accurate and appropriate vocabulary is used by all
- Opportunities are created for pupils to talk to each other purposefully about Mathematics
- Sentence stems are available and referred to in order to provide clarity on how to speak mathematically
Curiosity
- There is an opportunity to develop fluency and automaticity
- Conceptual and procedural variation allows pupils to apply their mathematical knowledge in different contexts
- Children have the opportunity to go from specific examples of concepts to developing these into general rules