Aims & Purpose

Each subject leader regularly reviews the purpose and aims for their subjects.  These are based upon the National Curriculum statements, developed by a range of educational and subject-specific experts.  These statements lay out the aims of each subject at Dorney School.

Maths

Mathematics is a creative and highly interconnected discipline that has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems. It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. A high quality mathematics education therefore provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the power and beauty of mathematics and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.

The national curriculum for mathematics aims to ensure that pupils:

• become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately
• reasons mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language
• can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non - routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.

Mathematics is an interconnected subject in which pupils need to be able to move fluently between representations of mathematical ideas. The programmes of study are, by necessity, organised into apparently distinct domains, but pupils should make rich connections across mathematical ideas to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competence in solving increasingly sophisticated problems. They should also apply their mathematical knowledge to science and other subjects.

The expectation is that the majority of pupils will move through the programmes of study at broadly the same pace. However, decisions about when to progress should always be based on the security of pupils’ understanding and their readiness to progress to the next stage. 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.

At Dorney, we aim for children to also:

• become fluent in the recall of key mathematical facts such as number bonds and multiplication tables
• become fluent in mental and written calculation strategies
• have a secure understanding of the underlying structure of mathematical problems
• develop deep conceptual understanding of mathematical concepts
• be able to reason and solve a variety of problems
• develop a wide mathematical vocabulary

Curriculum Overviews

Our curriculum has been mapped to ensure that there is clear progression across the school. Subject leaders regularly review the topics taught in each year group to ensure that pupils are taught the right content at the right time.