Mathematics plays a crucial role in the educational curriculum at North Star 180, equipping students with vital problem-solving abilities and logical reasoning skills. Daily exposure to mathematics, whether through formal lessons or real-world applications, is essential for fostering numeracy skills and confidence.
At North Star 180°, we follow the White Rose curriculum.
We want pupils to become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, to be able to reason and to solve problems. The White Rose curriculum embraces these national curriculum aims, and provides guidance to help pupils to become:
Visualisers – using the CPA (C – concrete P – pictorial A- abstract) approach to help pupils understand mathematics and to make connections between different representations.
Describers – placing great emphasis on mathematical language and questioning so pupils can discuss the mathematics they are doing, and so support them to take ideas further.
Experimenters – as well as being fluent mathematicians, we want pupils to love and learn more about mathematics.
To learn mathematics effectively, some things must be learned before others, e.g. place value needs to be understood before working with addition and subtraction, addition needs to be learnt before looking at multiplication (as a model of repeated addition).
There is an emphasis on number skills first, carefully ordered, throughout the primary curriculum. In the secondary curriculum, they start with algebra as this is key to the secondary curriculum as well as being comparatively new for pupils. Again they carefully order the skills – understanding notation, one-step equations, then two-step equations etc., revisiting the concepts in other areas of the curriculum and making sure that topics are covered so pupils experience variety as well as consolidation.
The Cold Task is the first attempt which allows the teacher
to see what the student can do independently at the start of a unit.
The Hot Task is taken at the end of each unit and shows the
progress the student has made in their learning.
The Cold tasks and Hot tasks are identical – these tasks
help build confidence by showing our students how much they have achieved by
working hard in lessons and applying their new knowledge. They also support the
teacher to plan lessons – which can focus on each student’s needs – provides
information on current understanding and highlights misconceptions.
Retrievals are a quick, fun and engaging lesson starting activity on any mathematical area identified as needing work or that has not been taught in a long time.
Retrieval activities begin our maths lessons in a way that engages students in a less formal way, supports the retrieval of prior knowledge – which builds confidence as activities are accessible and the students are successful – and allow our students to have a positive start to their lesson before moving on to new learning which will stretch and challenge them.
As well as new units beginning and ending with cold/hot tasks, throughout the year children will be more formally assessed.
In Term 1 this will be with a Standardised Test, this data will be used in their EHCPs.
Term 2,4 and 6 will end with formal assessments, this data will be used to track overall progress in Math.
In Year 9, 10 and 11 the children will be working towards a range of Maths qualifications, beginning with Entry Levels, moving on to Functionals and then eventually in Y11 onto GCSEs.