Maths

Ormiston Cliff Park Primary Academy follows the National Curriculum to teach Mathematics.

We believe that a high quality mathematics education is essential and ensure that links are made to meaningful, real-life contexts.

Our approach to maths is based on the CPA model:

• C stands for concrete – having the opportunity to use practical equipment and resources such as Numicon, bead strings, digit cards etc. in order to develop their understanding.
• P stands for pictorial – the demonstration of the link between the practical and a recorded method such as number lines, formal calculation methods etc.
• A stands for abstract – where children are able to apply their knowledge in a range of different ways.

Three key elements of our maths curriculum are:

• Fluency – where children become fluent in the different aspects of mathematics, including the varied and regular practice of increasingly complex problems over time so that pupils develop and are able to make links in their understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.
• Reasoning – by following a line of enquiry, understanding relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language. This helps to develop children’s ‘maths talk’.
• Problem solving – by applying their mathematics to a variety of problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler step as and persevering in seeking solutions. This also includes the ability to apply a range of strategies in order to test and check their results.

Our daily maths lessons focus heavily upon the development of pupils’ understanding of number. Pupils take part in additional maths skills lessons where they have the opportunity to develop their understanding of the other key areas of maths such as shape, measures, data and time. Often these sessions are linked to their wider topic curriculum work.

Our policy ensures that, as children become more confident and secure in their understanding of calculations, they are able to access an increasingly varied range of formal recording methods. This allows children to be able to select increasingly efficient methods as their understanding grows.