MATHEMATICS

At Eastwood, we want all our children to recognise that Maths is essential to everyday life and part of the foundation for understanding and growing in the outside world.  

We want to nurture our children’s love of Mathematics so they understand that Mathematics can be achieved by all; to grow their ability to reason and explain, and encourage them to confidently apply their mathematical thinking in the classroom and beyond. 

We offer our children an engaging, balanced mathematics curriculum and good quality first teaching to produce individuals who are numerate, creative, independent, inquisitive, enquiring, and confident.  

At Eastwood, we aim that all pupils will: 

• become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics so that they develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately. 

• solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of problems with increasing sophistication, including in unfamiliar contexts and to model real-life scenarios.  

• can reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry and develop and present a justification, argument or proof using mathematical language.  

• be competent and confident in taking risks to apply mathematical knowledge, concepts, and skills.   

• be able to work independently and in cooperation with others.  

• be able to use and apply mathematics across the curriculum, and to understand the application of mathematics in real life contexts and scenarios. 

In mathematics, we use the National Curriculum through the Teaching for Mastery principles, which states:  

• The expectation is that most pupils will move through the programmes of study at broadly the same pace.  

• Pupils who grasp concepts rapidly should be challenged through being offered rich and sophisticated problems before any acceleration through new content.  

• Those who are not sufficiently fluent with earlier material should consolidate their understanding, including through additional practice, before moving on.  

Mastering Number 

To develop children's fluency in calculation and flexibility with number, we teach Mastering number sessions in Reception and Key Stage 1. 

Key Instant Recall Facts  (KIRFs)

To develop your child’s fluency and mental maths skills, we have decided to introduce KIRFs (Key Instant Recall Facts) after the Spring half term in Year 2 and they continue throughout Key Stage 2.  KIRFS are a way of helping your child to learn by heart, key facts and information which they need to have instant recall of.    

KIRFs are designed to support the development of mental maths skills that underpin much of the maths work in schools.  They are particularly useful when calculating: adding; subtracting; multiplying or dividing.  They contain number facts such as number bonds and times tables that need constant practice and rehearsal, so children can recall them quickly and accurately.  

Instant recall of facts helps enormously with mental agility within maths lessons.  When children move onto written calculations, knowing these key facts is very beneficial.  For your child to become more efficient in recalling them easily, they need to be practised frequently and for short periods of time.