Maths at the Academy
Mathematics is an essential tool for life. We strive to develop great mathematicians, who use their fluency, reasoning and problem-solving skills with confidence, throughout their school careers and into their adult life.
Method and process are equally as important as the answer. We ensure that our pupils have a bank of strategies and the mental fluency to confidently solve mathematical problems in a range of contexts. We encourage pupils to explain their methods, talk to each other about how they solved a problem and find relationships and patterns in their processes and solutions.
Mathematical vocabulary is at the heart of each of our lessons; ensuring pupils understand and use the correct terminology in order to communicate confidently in a shared mathematical language. Pupils work in mixed-ability groups, giving every pupil the opportunity to challenge themselves and extend their own thinking through working with a range of their peers.
A strong relationship between conceptual understanding and procedural fluency is key for pupils to truly gain ‘mastery’.
In order to extend, we believe in deepening thinking within the area of study, rather than accelerating to the next topic. To deepen knowledge and understanding, we ask questions such as: How did you get that answer? Can you prove it to me? What strategy did you use? Is there another way? Can you show me?
