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The Cambridge Primary School

The Cambridge

Primary School

Maths

At The Cambridge Primary School, we believe that all children should feel confident in maths. Please read our  Maths Policy, Maths Skills Progression Map and Year Group specific Calculation Policies (attached at the bottom of this page) for more information on our approach to teaching Maths.

We use Maths - No Problem! throughout the school to ensure that pupils build a strong foundation of transferable skills that will take them through secondary school, university and into a future workplace.

Maths — No Problem! uses a mastery approach to learning, MNP is changing the way children learn mathematics. Based on the research of influential educational theorists, maths mastery first gained popularity in Singapore where pupils rank among the highest worldwide in maths education.

These skills MNP promotes include;

Deeper problem solving
Children learn to think flexibly and are more engaged with mathematics. They learn to apply their knowledge and skills to effectively solve problems.‘I love doing Maths — No Problem!

A growth mindset
MNP fosters a culture that rewards growth over inherent ability. Children learn that it’s okay to struggle, in fact, struggle is an important part of the learning process.

Increased confidence
Every child can succeed with MNP. Knowing this helps pupils develop a strong sense of efficacy, take more risks and explain their thinking with confidence.

Transferable skills
A strong maths foundation goes beyond the maths class. Teachers using MNP have seen improvements in other subject areas — even in English class.

 

The following videos will give you a greater understanding of how and what your child is being taught.

Fundamental Ideas
Dr Yeap talks about one of the fundamental ideas in mathematics: that items can only be counted, added, and subtracted if they have the same nouns. He uses a simple example with concrete objects, chocolates and glue sticks to illustrate the point and then shows how it relates to column addition and the addition of fractions.

 

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Number Bonds
Dr. Yeap explains how young children can use concrete materials and later use pictorial representations as number bonds. Number bonds represent how numbers can be split up into their component parts. Children can explore number bonds using a variety of concrete materials, such as counters with containers and ten frames or with symbols.

 

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Subtraction
Dr. Yeap explains how standard column subtraction can be taught meaningfully by using children's knowledge of number bonds. Once children can explain how numbers can be split into their component parts, they can adapt their understanding to the conventional column subtraction method.

 

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Mental Calculations
Dr. Yeap discusses how children can develop an ability to calculate the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) in their heads without the use of paper and pencil or calculators.

 

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Multiplication
Dr. Yeap discusses how children can learn their times tables meaningfully by using visualisation and other strategies.

 

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Long Division
Dr Yeap discusses how children can learn to do long division meaningfully by first using concrete apparatus, such as base-10 materials, to perform the operations. They can then explore how this idea is represented in the long division algorithm.

 

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Bar Model 1
Dr. Yeap discusses how diagrams can be used to represent a situation in a problem: such as rectangles representing (unknown) quantities. This method of visualising problems is known as the bar model.

 

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Bar Model 2
Dr. Yeap gives another example of the bar model: how diagrams can be used to represent situations in a problem.

 

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