Maths

Maths Leaders: Alison Stanley

Welcome to the maths page! This is the place to find out:

What your children are learning
What you can do to help
Links to other websites

The mathematics curriculum changed for all primary schools in 2013. This new curriculum was designed to improve mathematical understanding for all children and was based on some of the fundamental ideas used in the highest performing jurisdictions in the world.

At the heart of the new curriculum, is the belief that we can all learn mathematics if we have good teaching, appropriate resources, we put in the effort and have a 'can do' attitude. (See our page on growth mindset).

In line with higher performing jurisdictions, the new curriculum encourages the class to all work on the same content. However, some children may need additional support to understand the learning and some others, who understand quickly, should be challenged to reach a deeper level of understanding, rather than move into the next year's content. For example, if a Year 2 child is grasping the Year 2 content quickly, they should be challenged through being offered rich and sophisticated problems, before considering any Year 3 content.

It should be noted that the new content is far more challenging than the previous curriculum.

How you can help at home

The best way you can help your child is to be positive about maths! Reasoning and problem solving are at the heart of mathematics ; try and talk through your own reasoning when you are solving day to day problems e.g. working out quantities of food needed for dinner / a tea party, what time to leave home to get to a appointment, what is the new price after the 20% sale?

Try to encourage your children to become fluent with basic number facts as this will really help their mathematics learning. Our new fluency cards give lots of specific ideas for you to try with your child.

The links below give more detailed information about ways in which you can help your children, including links to websites. Oxford Owl website gives lots of support specifically for parents. The Sumdog website provides a really fun way for children to practise skills. The Times Tables Rock Stars website helps children to learn their times tables facts in a very motivating way. If your child has lost their login(s), please contact Sue Smith.

Maths with parents

Parent workshops

Keep an eye on our news section and school diary for details of upcoming parent workshops.

Each year group has a Learning Together session timetabled during the year. These sessions are designed to help you find out about your child’s learning, and how you can help them, in a fun and informative way. You will be working/ playing with your child for most of the session.

Maths Games Library

End of year expectations

The below booklets provide information for parents and carers about the National Curriculum end of year expectations for each year group. The National Curriculum outlines these expectations as the minimum requirements your child must meet in order to ensure continued progress. All of the objectives will be taught, practised and consolidated throughout the year. Any extra support you can provide in helping your children to achieve is greatly valued.

Fluency at Holmbush

After the very successful trial of our fluency cards in Year 2, we have now launched them across the school. The key idea is that if your child practises regularly, they will become more confident and more skilled. The cards allow us to reward children’s effort (see section of the website on Growth Mindset), as well as helping you to understand what your child is working on and how you can help.

We would like your child to practise their fluency 5 times (or more) each week. Please can you / your child note down every time they practise in the week, just as you do with the reading cards. If they have practised their fluency 5 times in the week, they can proudly wear a number cape on Friday! (Children who have 5 reads and 5 fluencies achieve the ‘double whammy’ reward of an extra 10 minutes play). We believe strongly that these regular short bursts of practising skills are a very effective form of homework, which will help your children to become more confident mathematicians.

Your child’s card will show the target(s) that they are working on, but feel free to practise other areas too. Completed targets will be highlighted by the teacher as they are achieved/ assessed.

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