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Maths Sticky Skills and Knowledge

Addition - Addition helps pupils master the relationships between numbers and understand how quantities relate to one another. Addition is a key skill that is frequently used in school, at home, in the community and in jobs. We want our pupils to be confident when adding in a variety of situations, whether done mentally or using a calculator or pencil and paper. Addition can also be repeated to solve multiplication problems or the inverse can be used to solve subtraction problems. 

Subtraction - Subtraction is a part of our everyday lives and therefore an important concept to develop early. We need to understand how to subtract in order to engage with society effectively as we use subtraction when dealing with money, cooking, travel and time, among countless other daily experiences. A strong knowledge of addition can really support a pupil when solving a subtraction problem but we also want pupils to be able to solve subtraction problems mentally and accurately if they can, before using any pencil or paper methods.

Multiplication – As a main tool for many forms of maths such as algebra, calculus, equations and more, the ability to rehearse and understand multiplications up to and including 12 will enable our pupils to confidently and skilfully tackle the more complex mathematical subjects and teachings presented to them. The ability to fully understand multiplication and have fluency and instant recall will boost your child’s confidence in the subject. Many of the tasks they are required to do both at school, and the home requires this basic skill. For example, laying the table for dinner when guests are expected, calculating exchange rates for spending money on holiday, or working out the days of the weeks, months or years. These daily uses of multiplication come naturally to many and highlight the regular use of the skill, reinforcing the importance of learning this from a young age.

Division - As our pupils get older and begin to handle money on a regular basis, share items between friends and cut food into portions they are beginning to build up their division skills as part of their everyday life. Being confident to solve division problems in real life situations will mean that as well as gaining confidence in the subject, they will be able to utilise these skills in the wider world.

Money – Money is imperative in almost everything we do in adult life. As a result we want our pupils to understand the concepts of money and how it will affect them as adults. Apart from teaching them about the currency of money we want them to understand about spending, saving, debt, loans, income, wages, taxes and all the other areas in life that money is important.  We aim to give our pupils positive messages about paying bills on time, the reasons we work and have money so that we can pay for things but we also want to help them to understand spending within limits and why that’s important and about debt and how that impacts on their quality of life.

Time – Rarely does anyone go through a day without making a reference to time. Most people will make time allotments for the day’s tasks and also use watches, electronic devices and clocks to check the time. We want our pupils to have an appropriate understanding on the two areas of time, time-telling and the concept of time. Our pupils will gain knowledge in reading a clock and setting a clock, while also understanding units of time, their duration and their relationship to events. We make sure we give our pupils an account of the day ahead that help our pupils learn their daily routine and also begin their understanding of the sequence of time; we also constantly refer to analogue clocks and the time as this is often a very challenging concept for pupils. Our intention is to immerse our pupils in time so they can face any challenges they may come across with time in the wider world.