Welcome to Maths

The Ark Dickens Mastery Curriculum prepares our learners to be the fluent, confident mathematicians of the 21st century. It equips them with the problem solving, language skills and growth mindset they need to flourish in higher education or in a career of their choice.  

Our lessons engage, challenge and support all learners, to work through fluency, reasoning and problem solving activities. Our mastery curriculum supports our whole school focus on oracy.  We continue to nurture our pupils’ love of maths and develop their curiosity to express their mathematical thinking in eloquent, appropriate ways. 

Concrete, Pictorial and Abstract (CPA) representations are embedded into the mastery approach and teaching and learning at Ark Castledown. This supports learners in verbalising their mathematical thinking, exploring and connecting concepts and deepening their understanding. 

• Concrete – Pupils have the opportunity to use concrete objects and manipulatives to help them to understand and explain concepts. 
• Pictorial – Pupils then build on this concrete approach by using pictorial representations which can then be used to reason and solve problems. 
• Abstract – With foundations firmly laid pupils can move to an abstract approach using numbers and key concepts with confidence.  

At Ark Dickens, we also have an afternoon Maths Meeting. These meetings cover a variety of content, are fast paced and ensure engagement and enjoyment of maths for all. To continue learning outside of the classroom, we have Times Table Rockstars for Key Stage 2 and 'Maths Play' events for all years.​

All lessons are carefully planned and adapted taking in to account all learners needs. Pupils undertake pre and post unit assessments in Years 1 to 6 which enables teachers to plan extra lessons to consolidate prior learning from previous year groups. At Ark Dickens, all children undertake half termly arithmetic assessments and Maths Mastery termly assessments. These assessments are carefully analysed and the data is used to inform planning for daily lessons, arithmetic meetings and maths meetings in order to effectively narrow gaps, consolidate learning and provide provision for those pupils who need it.

Within whole class maths lessons, our children are taught the importance of using accurate mathematical vocabulary and are encouraged to use this when explaining problem solving, partner talk and answering questions. Children are encouraged to represent and solve mathematical concepts in a variety of ways using concrete manipulatives, pictures and the abstract form, numbers and symbols. We understand that explicit modelling is key to our children’s success as mathematicians. At Ark Dickens Primary Academy, we follow the procedure, application and then deeper thought learning sequence when children are working independently.  We provide our children with opportunities to reason and problem solve, to develop their deeper understanding.

All Year 1 subjects Next Year 1 Subject - Reading

All Year 2 subjects Next Year 2 Subject - Reading

All Year 3 subjects Next Year 3 Subject - Reading

All Year 4 subjects Next Year 4 Subject - Reading

All Year 5 subjects Next Year 5 Subject - Reading

All Year 6 subjects Next Year 6 Subject - Reading