Intent 

At the heart of our school are a set of core values. These underpin our curriculum and the ethos of the school. At Holly Trees, we place great importance on a curriculum which develops the whole child. Through our core values, we foster an environment where the emotional, physical, academic, social, moral, spiritual and cultural development of each child is considered. We firmly believe that everyone is entitled to an ambitious curriculum and our curriculum design is accessible for all, including children with SEND and disadvantaged backgrounds. 

We aim promote positive attitudes and enthusiasm towards mathematics through practical tasks, enquiry and investigations. We want children to understand how maths is applied in everyday life and use maths to analyse and communicate information. In line with our school values, we aim to create resilient, independent and creative mathematicians. 

Implementation 

Implementation describes the way in which we deliver our intent consistently each day. To do this we have carefully designed our own school curriculum. This is designed to enable learners to acquire relevant subject knowledge which underpins the application of skills. Skills are carefully and progressively mapped across each key stage and subject area. Every subject has its own progression document which clearly identifies the way in which the acquisition of knowledge and skills is consolidated and built upon to support retention and recall as children progress from EYFS through to Year 6. 

At Holly Trees, we follow a mastery approach to teaching mathematics. This approach, in line with the National Curriculum, ensures that children have the opportunity to reason and problem solve, alongside fluently recalling and calculating mathematical facts. 

The key principals that allow children to master mathematical concepts include: 

Mastery for All: All children have the same opportunity to access the curriculum. Other than in exceptional cases, children all work towards the same learning objective in the same class. Classes are not set by ability and children often work with mixed ability talk-partners. Differentiation is primarily through adult support or use of maths resources and, occasionally, by task.  Children are encouraged to self-assess and choose a task that challenges them. Interventions are planned for children who need additional support.  

Deeper Conceptual Understanding: Each mathematical concept is studied for a longer period. This allows children to not only access the new learning but to apply it and show their depth of understanding in a variety of ways. Children will explain their understanding through diagrams, calculations and words and apply their understanding to solve different types of problems. Following a depth rather than breadth model, children will work at a deeper level applying their understanding to a variety of problems rather than moving onto objectives from the next year group. Only when a child has proven their understanding in a variety of ways, will they progress to work on objectives at the next year group level.   

Verbal and Written Reasoning: In every lesson, children use written and/or oral means to clarify, explain and justify their ideas and answers. This may be part of the teaching input or independent task. Reasoning activities are undertaken once children are fluent in a mathematical concept. All children are given the opportunity to reason or problem solve throughout a unit. 

Concrete/ Pictorial/ Abstract: Regularly and where necessary, children will use concrete resources to scaffold their learning. This allows children to visualise how maths works. Pictorial representations support their mathematical understanding of abstract concepts. All children have the opportunity to use equipment to consolidate or extend their learning.  

Impact 

Pupils leave Holly Trees with a secure understanding of the academic content but also with an understanding of how to be socially, morally, spiritually and culturally responsible and aware; how to make positive contributions to the local community and how to endeavour to be the best that they can be. We aim for all our children to leave Holly Trees as respectful, skilful, ambitious children with a thirst for life and all it has to offer. 

Found above are just a number of documents that will hopefully help you to support your child on their journey through Holly Trees.