Intent 

At Hatfield Wick School, our Mathematics curriculum is designed to ensure that all pupils develop the mathematical knowledge, understanding and confidence required to function successfully in education, employment and everyday life. 

Mathematics is taught as a core life skill, not simply as an academic subject, and is positioned as central to pupils’ personal development, future independence, and future pathways. 

Our intent is that all pupils: 

• Have secure fluency and number sense as the foundation for their mathematical learning. 

• Have the ability to reason, explain and justify their mathematical thinking.  

• Are able to apply mathematics to real-life, functional and vocational contexts. 

Implementation 

LKS2 & UKS2

In LKS2 and UKS2, mathematics is taught using Maths No Problem! Which focuses on a mastery approach to learning. By design, the learning is able to be catered to their specific academic year and/or their mathematic competencies. This is important to our pathway system that this is able to be implemented to successfully meet our students where they are. Clear progression and outcomes are sequenced and planned for to ensure we can support our students to make accelerated progress. 

KS3 & KS4

In KS3 and KS4, we use Sparx Maths, which typically supports those reaching KS3 with gaps in their knowledge. Like Maths No Problem! It takes a mastery approach and supports learners to make accelerated progress. Again, this can be delivered through mixed-year classes to ensure the needs of the individuals are being met through targeted, personalised learning pathways. 

Pupils arrive with us displaying varying degrees of competency in mathematics and often have huge gaps in their knowledge of basic concepts due to disrupted periods in education. With this in mind, we provide: 

• Daily, discrete (sometimes more formally depending on the task and student needs) maths lessons which follow the National Curriculum; there is a focus on mastery of concepts, therefore certain topics are given longer periods of time or revisited more often, to meet the needs of the individuals based on their pathways. Regular assessment and remediation opportunities are planned to ensure if any topics need revisiting, or individual gaps in learning are identified, they can be planned for through lessons or intervention priorities. 

• High quality, practical resources which help maths ‘come alive’ for our pupils are used. Ensuring our pupils’ experience concrete, pictorial and abstract concepts is essential to building their mathematical understanding, skills and confidence.  

• Teachers strive to give each topic a practical context that has relevance to our pupils e.g. measuring may be taught in cooking or probability may be taught in a sporting context. Evidence of these lessons can be seen in a ‘floor book’ for each class. 

• Numicon, base ten, multilink and other resources, help bring a concrete context for our pupils.

• Regular problem-solving activities are planned by teachers to provide pupils with the opportunity to apply their maths skills in different contexts and begin to develop abilities for higher order thinking.

• Weekly core skills activities are planned by teachers to provide pupils with the opportunity to develop calculation strategies and place value and number knowledge. 

• Times Tables Rockstars helps consolidate times tables knowledge – used independently, in group challenges and pupils are welcomed to challenge teachers. This is a gap in knowledge that is typical for our pupils’, so it is regularly encouraged throughout the school day, through different subjects to be linked in, and through support at home with practising.  

At Key Stage 4, depending on the individual pathway, pupils’ work towards AQA awards, Functional Skills or GCSE qualifications in Mathematics. In KS4, depending on the cohort, groups can be split into two classes: one focussing on AQA and Functional Skills Awards, the other focussing on GCSE level to ensure we meet the needs of our students and ensure they are in the environment best suited to their abilities, goals and targets. One-to-one or small group sessions are used to target gaps in knowledge or expand understanding for greater depth content, where appropriate.