"Mathematics is a creative and highly inter-connected 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 beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject." - The National Curriculum for Mathematics. 

Big Maths at Rockmount

BIG Maths is a teaching approach that makes progress in maths easy and fun. BIG Maths has been extremely successful both nationally and internationally with thousands of children learning through daily BIG Maths ‘CLIC’ sessions and the weekly ‘Beat That!’ challenges.

Big Maths firstly answers the question, ‘How do we get children properly numerate as they journey through school?’ It provides us with an accurate and simple, but highly effective, framework that guarantees numeracy progress. This framework is known as CLIC (Counting, Learn Its, It’s Nothing New and Calculation) and is characterised by accurate steps of progression (known as Progress Drives) that make new learning easy and obvious to children by cashing in on the timeless natural laws of Maths.
 

BIG Maths is therefore a rigorous, systematic and structured approach that provides children with a fun and lively experience as they learn through jingles, songs, games and the BIG Maths characters.  It is based on 4 key elements which make up each maths lesson: CLIC.

Counting – Counting is done in many ways including counting forwards and backwards in various increments; work on place value and reading and ordering numbers.

Learn Its – There are 72 number facts which are learnt throughout the years from Reception to Year 4. They are split across the different terms so that each class works on a few 'Learn Its' at a time to ensure they are fully embedded. 36 are addition facts and 36 are multiplication facts; these are learnt in class and are tested.

It’s Nothing New – Children use a bank of facts and methods that they already have to solve problems and that each step of progress is very small; children will use and apply their skills and methods to a range of different situations and problems.

Calculation – This is often the main part of the maths lesson which focuses on teaching solid written and mental methods for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The children move through progress drives which introduce small, focused steps of progress throughout the year.

Big Maths puts the child at the heart of the learning experience.

Intent

At Rockmount Primary School we recognise that Maths is integral to everyday life and with this in mind, we want to ensure that all of our children develop a positive and enthusiastic attitude towards this subject, one that will stay with them forever.  The teaching of Maths at our school should enable children to develop as confident mathematicians who are skilled in fluency, reasoning and problem solving.  (National Curriculum 2014)

The fundamental skills that children learn in Maths will prepare them well with the essential knowledge and skills required for the next stage in their educational journey and then stay with them forever.  This knowledge will be essential for them to succeed in life!

At Rockmount Primary School, we want children to reach their full potential in Maths and most importantly, to understand that Maths is fun and to be enjoyed!

Implementation

At Rockmount Primary School, we offer our children a rich and enjoyable experience in mathematics by providing the knowledge, skills, concepts and processes that are appropriate to each individual and that relate to the world around them. We make explicit links between real life problems, as this will develop an understanding of mathematical concepts.  Maths is a life skill and we try to ensure that real life contexts and links to other curriculum areas are used as frequently as possible.

In our Foundation Stage, Mathematics is supported throughout all areas of provision, both indoors and outdoors. Mathematics incorporates both number and shape space and measures. We ensure that children’s learning is contextual using real life experiences such as baking, songs, stories, construction and shopping. To ensure children have a solid understanding of the basic mathematical concepts, we use Little Big Maths daily to aid our children’s development.

In KS1, the learning embeds the skills taught in Foundation stage. The children are exposed to a broader curriculum which underpins the four number operations, as well as being introduced to new concepts such as learning to tell the time, position and direction and data handling. In Year 1 and 2 learning becomes embedded through continuous provision and independent learning challenges.

We use Big Maths and CLIC forms part of our daily teaching.  Weekly CLIC challenges and questions allow the children to apply and deepen their learning and mathematical reasoning.   We will promote Maths throughout school through meaningful working walls within the classroom and around school. 

Impact

By the time children leave our Foundation Stage they are taught, in number, to count reliably, order numbers and say which number is one more or one less. They add and subtract and solve problems including sharing, doubling and halving.

In shape, space and measures children are taught to use everyday language to talk about size, weight, capacity, position, distance, time and money to compare quantities and objects and to solve problems. They learn to recognise, create and describe patterns. They explore characteristics of everyday objects and shapes and use mathematical language to describe them.

We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

• A reflection on standards achieved against the planned outcomes
• Weekly BMBT tests (Y1-Y6) and regular arithmetic tests
• In Foundation Stage, a baseline is carried out at the beginning of the year and then children are assessed against Development Matters prior to them moving into year 1. This contributes towards them meeting the Early Learning Goal.
• Pupil discussions about their learning

• Perform basic numeracy skills fluently
• Perform basic mathematical skills to allow them to be secondary school ready
• Understand the mathematics likely to be encountered in daily life
• Reason mathematically and think logically, using the correct mathematical vocabulary to develop sound mathematical discussions
• Identify patterns encountered in diverse situations and to make inferences from these
• Approach problems systematically and choose appropriate techniques for their solution
• Use equipment such as rulers, compasses, protractors etc. correctly and recognise when the use of such equipment is appropriate
• Experience satisfaction in and enjoyment of mathematical experiences and achievements
• Develop fluency in performing key mathematical skills so they become second nature.
• Solve problems in a diverse range of situations.

Most importantly, our ultimate aim is to prepare our children well for the future.  We want children to leave Rockmount Primary School with a positive and enthusiastic approach to Maths but most importantly to understand that Maths is fun and to be enjoyed!

Key Skills

The national curriculum for mathematics aims to ensure that all 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.
•  reason 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 nonroutine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.

Pupil Voice

We regularly hold pupil interviews with children from each class throughout the school in order to gain an insight about their attitudes towards Maths.

What do you like most about CLIC sessions?

• "I like the CLIC session because it is fast paced and it helps my brain to warm up" 

• "I like meeting the characters - They help me learn new facts"

Useful Web Links

Children make progress best as mathematicians when they regularly repeat skills and practise them until they become embedded.  This can be quite a long process sometimes so the use of the context of an exciting game or interesting activity can be highly motivating.  In our experience, our children learn best when they are having fun and that's what games are for!