Maths

At Seton Primary School we believe that mathematics equips pupils with a uniquely powerful set of tools, and develops an ability to calculate, reason and solve problems. It enables children to understand and appreciate relationships and patterns in both number and space in their everyday lives. We believe that maths should be purposeful and children are made aware of its importance in real-life contexts.

It is our aim to develop:

• To develop curiosity, excitement and interest towards the subject of mathematics.
• To develop curiosity about number and the motivation to use and explore and investigate.
• To develop a positive attitude towards Maths where learners are resilient and embrace challenges.
• To develop a secure foundation of number fluency from EYFS to Year 6.
• To develop competence and confidence with numbers and the number system and other mathematical knowledge, concepts and skills.
• To develop mastery in mathematics - learners who can reason, think logically and work systematically to solve problems, both independently and with others.
• To develop learners who can communicate and understand sophisticated mathematical vocabulary.

Our approach to teaching and learning mathematics:

At Seton we use White Rose Maths Hubs materials to plan and deliver high quality mathematics lessons to our children. We are dedicated to enabling our children to achieve academic mastery in mathematics and we do so through the use of a Concrete – Pictorial – Abstract approach to learning mathematics. This enables our children to build solid foundations in their understanding of maths; which is vital in order to master the subject.

Our calculation policy shows in great detail how we use this sequence to develop the four operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

Supporting your child at home

• Learning key numbers facts – it is vital that children learn their key number facts such as number bonds and times tables. This can be done at home as well as at school and it is important that such number facts are practised and recited regularly.
• Maths in real life contexts – enabling your child to see the uses and benefits to mathematics in everyday life is very important and there are countless opportunities to allow your child to demonstrate what they have learned. Shopping, cooking and baking are great activities that can bring classroom learning into real life situations.
• Times Table Rock Stars – is a carefully sequenced programme of daily times tables practice. Each week concentrates on a different times tables, with a recommended consolidation week for rehearsing the tables that have recently been practiced every third week or so.
• NumBots - is an online game and playing little and often will significantly improve your child's recall and understanding of number bonds and addition and subtraction facts.
• Sumdog – helps children practice mental arithmetic skills and it differentiates for different abilities.

   

  Multiplication Check

  From June 2020, year four children will complete a statutory times table check. This check is an online test in which pupils are asked to answer 25 questions on times tables from 2x to 12x. They will be given 6 seconds per question, with 3 seconds rest between each question.

  Useful websites below to help your child with their times tables.

Times Tables Rock Stars

Seton Community Primary School subscribes to Times Tables Rock Stars (TTRS). This is a system that the children use to practise the instant recall of their multiplication and division facts.

When it comes to times tables, speed and accuracy are important – the more facts a child remembers, the easier it is for them to complete harder calculations. Times Tables Rock Stars is a fun and challenging programme designed to help children master the times tables. To be a Times Tables Rock Star they need to answer any multiplication fact up to 12x12 in less than 3 seconds!

Research shows that daily practise is the best strategy for children to learn these important facts. Short bursts of daily practise are much more effective than spending hours once a week.

Parental support is critical in this area. For children to be fully motivated and for them to get the best out of the practice, they need an adult’s help. Without a parent’s praise and reminders, without sitting down together or checking their work, practising times tables will not feel important.

Each class or group within a class will be set a schedule of times tables to work on by their teacher. The quicker a child can answer a times tables question, the higher their Rock Status.

Your child can play TT Rock Stars alone or against friends or people around the world.

Single player

• Garage – best for getting quicker at a few facts.
• Studio – the questions in Studio can be anything from 1x1 up to 12x12 and answering these will improve your rock status.

Multi player

• Rock Arena – Compete against other members of your band (friends in class).
• Festival – Compete against TT Rock Stars from around the world.

Looking for ideas to support your child’s times tables development? Take a look at the suggestions below:

• Read the times tables that are being focused on that week (your child’s teacher can let you know the schedule for your child and a list of all the times tables can be downloaded below) do it a second time around but this time your child should be trying to say them without reading them from the page. It is more important that they can say them correctly than say them quickly to begin with.
• Download the Scatter Tables from TTRS. To use them, you call out a question from the times table you are focusing on and your child should point to the answer on the page. For example, if you are concentrating on the 5 times tables, then find the Scatter Table for the 5s and call out questions like, ‘9 times 5’ (your child points to 45) and so on. Your child should be trying to get them correct each time and not worrying about the speed.
• Write the focus times table out, initially in order and then in a random order.
• Chant, rap or sing times table songs (try Percy Parker or Mathsrockx).
• Ask your child to complete a TT Rock stars practise sheet that focuses on the table they are working on (can be download below).
• Play TT Rock Stars online using the login card in your child’s home school book. They should play for a short while until they are successfully answering the questions quickly. TT Rock Stars can be accessed on online or downloaded for free.

Parent Handbook for TTRS is available here

Numbots

I am delighted to inform you about the new service we are using to support your child's maths education. The creators of Times Tables Rock Stars have produced a platform for boosting addition and subtraction skills, called NumBots.

NumBots is an online game and playing little and often will significantly improve your child's recall and understanding of number bonds and addition and subtraction facts. These are critical foundations in maths so we are excited by the impact NumBots will have.

In order to get the best out of NumBots, children should regularly play for shorts bursts.

Game Types

1. Story Mode - the emphasis is on the learning the ideas and concepts behind the addition and subtraction by using shapes and diagrams.
2. Challenge Mode - the emphasis is more on speed of recall of key facts, like number bonds to 10, doubling small numbers or adding and taking away in your head.

Children have been shown how to log in and their username is in their reading planners.

Miss Jackson

Parent Introduction available here