Mathematics at Whitefield School

Mathematics at Whitefield School supports pupils in many ways by helping make comparisons, identify differences, investigate relationships and establish connections.

We use these processes across the school day to support learning of maths skills in subjects across the curriculum.

Teaching mathematics at Whitefield School provides pupils with a wide range of interesting and engaging practical activities to enable pupils to develop their understanding of a breadth of maths skills. Pupils at Whitefield School often require opportunities to practise and repeat in order to learn new skills. As pupils learn skills within structured activities, these should then be extended so pupils can consolidate, generalise and apply their skills in a wide range of situations.

To ensure that pupils have access to appropriate learning experiences, they have access to a coverage of the Mathematics curriculum at an appropriate level to meet their individual learning needs and with activities which are appropriate and suitably challenging.

The focus of teaching mathematics for students working within the Early Stages may be on extending early learning experiences within these areas.

• Awareness
• Exploration
• Control
• Sequence and pattern

The focus of teaching mathematics for pupils working within the Stepping On pathways will be on extending the learning experiences and giving pupils opportunities to focus on:

• Number counting and number recognition, patterns, calculating
• Geometry and measure measurement, properties of shapes, position, direction and movement
• Problem-solving matching, sorting, and patterns

The focus of teaching mathematics for students working within our Climbing Up and Taking Off curriculum will be on extending the learning experiences further which may include inclusion sessions with mainstream peers. Providing pupils opportunities to focus on:

• Number counting and number recognition, patterns, calculating, and money skills
• Geometry and measurement, properties of shapes, position, direction and movement
• Problem-solving matching, sorting, and patterns
• Data and interpreting graphs

Pupils at Whitefield School have access to a range of learning resources to help them explore maths activities and develop fluency, reasoning and problem-solving:

• Numicon resources assist students to build a deep understanding of maths through a multi-sensory approach
• White Rose is an engaging, supportive online learning resource which targets the strands in the mathematics national curriculum.