Oldbury Primary School Logo
Oldbury on Severn
Church of England VC
Primary School
‘Love one another as I have loved you’ (John 15:12)
Oldbury Primary School Logo
Oldbury on Severn
C of E VC Primary School
‘Love one another as I have loved you’ (John 15:12)
Oldbury Primary School Logo
Oldbury on Severn
C of E VC Primary School
‘Love one another as I have loved you’ (John 15:12)

Our Curriculum

Pupils immerse themselves in all that the school has to offer. They take on extra responsibilities with pride - OFSTED 

Mathematics

At Oldbury on Severn Primary School, our Maths curriculum is intended develop knowledge, fluency, reasoning and problem solving skills. We believe this is vital to ensure children can find the ‘Joy’ in maths, a thirst for challenge, the courage to make mistakes and believe in themselves to reach their potential. We want our children to have a positive attitude towards maths and to be successful, resilient and confident with a range of mathematical ideas and concepts. We value the importance of mathematical

We teach Maths at Oldbury on Severn through the delivery and implementation of the White Rose Maths scheme, an approach to teaching maths developed in 2017 by the White Rose Maths hub in the north of England. This scheme helps develop problem solving, fluency and relational understanding are at the heart of the scheme. It uses the Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract (CPA) approach and allows pupils to spend enough time to fully explore a topic, reinforcing it with practice, before moving onto the next one.

All ideas are built on previous knowledge and pupils have ample opportunity to develop relationships between topics.

The typical structure of a maths lesson is:

  • Discover – a Discover task to get children to solve a problem that aims to generate curiosity. During the Discover section children may use manipulatives to help them understand the maths and explain their method. The children are encouraged during this time to think of as many ways as possible to solve the question as possible.
  • Share – The next stage encourages children to Share the methods they have tried to solve the problem in Discover.
  • Think Together – New Learning – We only learn when we are thinking! In this section we take the approach “I do, we do, you do”, as children apply the knowledge they have just learned in a series of problems that continue to encourage thinking throughout.
  • Try it, Use it, Prove it – independent practice. Once children have mastered the concept, they use their reasoning and problem-solving skills to develop their depth of learning.
  • Reflect – The final Reflect question helps the children evaluate whether they have understood the key concept and small step that they have been trying to master in the lesson.
  • Mop Ups – This is the same day approach to picking up and addressing misconceptions. We use a keep up not catch up approach.

Key points:

  • A highly effective approach to teaching maths based on research and evidence
  • Builds students’ mathematical fluency without the need for rote learning
  • Introduces new concepts using Bruner’s Concrete Pictorial Abstract (CPA) approach
  • Pupils learn to think mathematically as opposed to reciting formulas they don’t understand
  • Teaches mental strategies to solve problems such as drawing a bar model

Maths is accessible to all and all children and adults in school are encouraged to believe in themselves as mathematicians, embracing challenge and ‘celebrating mistakes’, with an understanding that this is how we learn. Children have opportunities to deepen their learning in all lessons and misconceptions are addressed within lessons or during a ‘Mop up’ session before the next lesson. Relationships between teachers and pupils and peers are an important part of life at Oldbury on Severn Primary School, developing a love of learning and confident, resilient and hardworking children.             

We also provide opportunities for children to use their mathematical skills across the wider curriculum. This can occur in a variety of ways and in a number of subjects, but there are chances for children to show that they have fully understood a concept by using it in a different context.

The impact of our approach creates learning opportunities where children explore mathematics that is challenging, interactive and engaging, ensuring all children will make progress. Children are able to use a variety of CPA (Concrete Pictorial Abstract) techniques to explore mathematical concepts and answer questions. Children will have a deeper understanding of concepts and ideas and will be able to articulate and explain these in greater detail. This is due to the structure of lessons, the high-quality resources used for planning, the quality of teacher’s questioning and high expectations of staff in lessons. Children will be engaged in maths lessons, welcoming challenge, celebrating mistakes and believing in themselves and each other.