Mathematics Policy

1 Aims and objectives

1.1 Mathematics teaches us how to make sense of the world around us through developing the young person’s ability to calculate, to reason and to solve problems. It enables them to understand and appreciate relationships and pattern in both number and space in their everyday lives. Through their growing knowledge and understanding, young people learn to appreciate the contribution made by many cultures to the development and application of mathematics.

1.2 The aims of mathematics are:

· to promote enjoyment and enthusiasm for learning through practical activity, exploration and discussion;

· to promote confidence and competence with numbers and the number system;

· to develop the ability to solve problems through decision-making and reasoning in a range of contexts;

· to develop a practical understanding of the ways in which information is gathered and presented;

· to explore features of shape and space, and develop measuring skills in a range of contexts;

· to understand the importance of mathematics in everyday life.

2 Teaching and learning style

2.1 The school uses a variety of teaching and learning styles in mathematics lessons. Our principal aim is to develop the young person’s knowledge, skills and understanding in mathematics. We do this through four weekly lessons that have a high proportion of whole-class and group-direct teaching. During these lessons we encourage the young people to ask as well as answer mathematical questions. They have the opportunity to use a wide range of resources such as number lines, number squares to support their work. They use ICT in mathematics lessons where it will enhance their learning, as in modelling ideas and methods. Wherever possible, we encourage them to use and apply their learning in everyday situations.

2.2 In all classes there are young people of differing mathematical ability. We recognise this fact and provide suitable learning opportunities for all young people by matching the challenge of the task to the ability of the individual person. We achieve this through a range of strategies – in some lessons through differentiated group work, and in other lessons by organising the group to work in pairs on open-ended problems or games. We use classroom assistants to support some young people and to ensure that work is matched to the needs of individuals.

3 Mathematics curriculum planning

3.1 Mathematics is a core subject in the National Curriculum, and we use the Secondary Framework as the basis for implementing the statutory requirements of the programme of study for mathematics.

3.2 We carry out the curriculum planning in mathematics in three phases (long-term, medium-term and short-term). The Secondary Framework for Mathematics gives a detailed outline of what we teach in the long term, while our yearly teaching programme identifies the key objectives in mathematics that we teach in each year.

3.3 Our medium-term mathematics plans, which are adopted from the Framework and give details of the main teaching objectives for each term, define what we teach. They ensure an appropriate balance and distribution of work across each term. These plans are kept and reviewed by the subject leader.

3.4 It is the class teacher who completes the weekly plans for the teaching of mathematics. These weekly plans list the specific learning objectives for each lesson and give details of how the lessons are to be taught. The class teacher keeps these individual plans. At the end of the week a copy of the weekly planning, with evaluations of learning, is kept in a central file. This file is monitored regularly by the subject leader.

4 Contribution of mathematics to teaching in other curriculum areas

4.1 English

Mathematics contributes significantly to the teaching of English in our school by actively promoting the skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening. For example, we encourage the young people to read and interpret problems in order to identify the mathematics involved.

4.2 Information and communication technology (ICT)

We use and apply mathematics in a variety of ways when solving problems using ICT.

4.3 Personal, social and health education (PSHE) and citizenship

Mathematics contributes to the teaching of personal, social and health education, and citizenship. The work that the young people do outside their normal lessons encourages independent study and helps them to become increasingly responsible for their own learning. The planned activities that they do within the classroom encourage them to work together and respect each other’s views. We present all our young people with real-life situations in their work on the spending of money.

4.4 Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development

The teaching of mathematics supports the social development of our young people through the way we expect them to work with each other in lessons. We group them so that they work together, and we give them the chance to discuss their ideas and results.

5 Inclusion

5.1 At The New School, we recognise that each person has individual educational needs and has a right to be educated even though mainstream school has failed for them. Nearly every child at some time has difficulties that are particular to them and distinguish them from others, whether it be an emotional or behavioural problem or some learning difficulty. Every teacher is a teacher of children with special needs and every adult has a role to play in supporting these children.

Consequently, it is our aim to provide a broad and balanced curriculum so that every young person has the opportunity to demonstrate his/ her individual strengths. Throughout our planning of the curriculum (incorporating all subjects), we try to ensure that different levels of ability and learning styles are catered for. The style, pace and nature of learning experiences are related to special educational needs (SEN) in the classroom. We aim to ensure that methods of recording are adaptable and recognise that effective teaching methods and good classroom management can all benefit pupils with SEN.

6 Assessment and recording

6.1 We assess the individual young person’s work in mathematics at three connected levels (short-term, medium-term and long-term). These assessments are used to inform teaching in a continuous cycle of planning, teaching and assessment. We make short-term assessments which we use to help us adjust our daily plans. These short-term assessments are closely matched to the teaching objectives.

6.2 We make medium-term assessments to measure progress against the key objectives, and to help us plan the next unit of work. This is recorded through annotation of the medium term plans.

6.3 We make long-term assessments at three times during the school year, at the end of each term. This information is recorded on year group tracking grids. The information from the tracking grids is used to identify target any young person who may need extra support. Tracking grids are completed by the teacher. They are monitored by the subject leader on a regular basis.

6.4 APP (Assessing pupil progress) allows teachers to use formative assessment as a tool to make judgements and identify where a pupil is in their learning. It involves ‘stepping back’ periodically to review pupils’ ongoing learning and relate their progress to the National Curriculum levels. The evidence which is gathered should be used to inform the child’s next steps in their learning. In addition the pupil should play a part in evaluating their progress and to collaborate with the teacher as to the next steps needed for progress to be made.

· All teaching staff should plan the learning objectives from the Secondary National Strategy

· Embed those plans into a day to day teaching and learning sessions

· Have an assessment focus (AFs)

· Carry out periodic assessment using AFs

· Use this evidence to inform planning, teaching and learning.

Evidence is gathered for benchmarking the young people in each class and this is moderated as a whole School activity.

6.5 Each individual young person has an assessment file, an assessed piece of work is put into this file each term.

7 Resources

7.1 There is a range of resources to support the teaching of mathematics across our school. Text books, calculators and geometry sets are available. A range of software is available to support work with the computers.

8 Monitoring and review

8.1 Monitoring of the standards of the young people’s work and of the quality of teaching in mathematics is the responsibility of the mathematics subject leader. The work of the mathematics subject leader also involves supporting colleagues in the teaching of mathematics, being informed about current developments in the subject, and providing a strategic lead and direction for the subject in the school. The mathematics subject leader gives the headteacher an annual summary in which s/he evaluates strengths and weaknesses in the subject and indicates areas for further improvement. The headteacher allocates regular management time to the mathematics subject leader so that s/he can review planning and samples of children’s work and undertake lesson observations of mathematics teaching across the school.

This Mathematics Policy was agreed and approved by the TCHA Board of Directors on behalf of Tamworth Cornerstone Housing Association will be reviewed by The New School’s Board every three years.

This policy was agreed and approved by The TCHA Board of Directors

on behalf of Tamworth Cornerstone Housing Association

was reviewed ................2011...........................

next review due..............2013.........................