At Lansdown Park Academy, we believe mathematics is an important part of every child’s development. We deliver a curriculum which enables accessible and engaging lessons to all children. Our maths lessons support them to develop their number sense and fluency, alongside their reasoning and problem-solving skills. Understanding and using mathematical concepts, and being numerate, helps children know and describe the world around them.
We want to ensure that students leave us with a greater confidence and understanding of number in order to not only support their next steps but also their future employment opportunities. Maths anxiety can be a particular challenge for many of our students and our aim is to help alleviate some of this. We aim to give every pupil a chance to believe in themselves and develop the power of resilience and perseverance when faced with mathematical challenges.
We aim to create a trusting learning environment where students are supported, engaged and also challenged in their mathematical journey, regardless of their starting point. Our curriculum is designed to promote a growth mindset so that students can develop confidence in their mathematical abilities and see the relevance of mathematics in their lives. We use many real-life scenarios and provide opportunities for children to apply their mathematical knowledge to other subjects (cross-curricular links).
Our 12-week placement maths curriculum includes:
| Place value in large numbers (up to 10 000 000 | Powers of 10. Making numbers ten times and one tenth the size. Standard form | Understanding the location of numbers in the linear number system. Integer exponents and roots | Understanding the concept of fractions, including fractions as a quotient. |
| Comparing fractions. Operations with fractions | Conversion of fractions to decimals. Mixed numbers and improper fractions | Additive and multiplicative relationships. Order of operations. Introduction to ratio tables | Percentage in real-life contexts |
| Fraction to decimal and percentage conversions | Solving problems with unknowns. Linear equations | Ratio notation | Understanding multiplication through area. |
Pupils at Lansdown Park Academy take part in daily maths lessons following the principles of Teaching for Mastery. At the start of each lesson pupils complete a daily review which allow our pupils to revisit, consolidate and extend learning in a range of mathematical topics. Concepts that students may have missed from primary, such as formal written methods, are taught through the daily review process and individual targets are set for each student. We recognise that some of our students may have a negative attitude towards maths, and we the C-MAS maths anxiety scale supports us with this.
The curriculum is broken down into small manageable steps to ensure that each lesson has a clear focus and helps children understand concepts by following a carefully planned sequence of lessons. This avoids the cognitive overload that can occur when too many concepts are covered at once and ensures that each lesson contributes to the long-term goal. Well targeted questioning is used to assess understanding. This may take place as 1:1 support rather than in a whole class context to reduce maths anxiety in particular pupils. Low-stakes questions are used to help students understand the context of the lesson, following the principles of Realistic Maths Education (RME).
As the students are at Lansdown Park for a limited amount of time here is a focus on key multiplicative relationships to prepare students for the Key Stage 3 curriculum and real-world maths. Students who are not fluent in their times table recall follow the Number Sense Maths times table programme. Students encounter topics such as ratio and percentage that are appropriate to their chronological age in a way that helps them to develop their multiplicative reasoning and apply it to real-world situations.
Students in Pathway 2 follow the same curriculum at the appropriate level but with their tutor as their main teacher. Maths interventions with the maths lead take place to address misconceptions or extend the students’ learning from their daily maths lesson.
The Maths curriculum at Lansdown Park Academy equips the students with increased confidence in understanding number and being able to relate maths to everyday life. It fosters reasoning and problem-solving skills, enabling learners to approach challenges with more resilience. The engagement with Number Sense, enables students to develop multiplication fluency, which supports ongoing maths progress.
Students demonstrate increased engagement with maths as we work effectively to reduce maths anxiety.
Students leave Lansdown Park Academy better prepared to access maths in their next settings, and with a stronger maths foundation to support ongoing success with further study and future employment.
