Maths

At Lubenham our aim is to develop lifelong mathematicians who are curious and use maths skills as a foundation for understanding the world around them. It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment.  We want pupils to recognise the importance of having a deep understanding, which is achieved by investigating and exploring mathematical concepts. 

We use the White Rose scheme as a basis to plan our daily mathematics lessons. These schemes provide teachers with exemplification for maths objectives and are broken down into: 

• Mathematical Fluency 

• Problem Solving 

• Reasoning 

The National Curriculum aims to ensure all pupils: 

• become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practise with increasing complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately 

• reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language 

• can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions 

Children are encouraged to use sentence stems to help them explain their thinking, and they use a range of mathematical apparatus and representations to support their learning. 

Our maths teaching and learning is underpinned by the following key messages*: 

• Everyone can learn maths 

• Mistakes help us to learn; never be afraid to make mistakes 

• Asking great questions deepens our understanding 

• Maths is about being creative and making connections 

• Maths is about being fluent and flexible 

• Understanding maths is much more important than how fast you are 

• The steps that you take when finding the answer are just as important as the answer itself 

*messages developed by Jo Boaler, Professor of Mathematics Education, Stanford University 

Multiplication Tables Check 

Since 2019-2020, schools in England are required to administer an online Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) to Year 4 pupils. The purpose of the MTC is to determine whether pupils can recall their times tables fluently, which is essential for future success in mathematics. To support children with their multiplication practise we use ‘Times Table Rockstars’ as an online learning platform.  

Science

At Lubenham, each theme is based on an overall Learning Question, such as... 

• Are all animals the same? 
• What materials can you find in your home? 
• What makes a shadow? 
• Do all life cycles look the same? 
• What makes a circuit change? 
• How do forces affect us?  
• How can we categorise different plants? 
• Is there more than one way to separate a mixture? 

Every child has a natural curiosity about the way the world works; science lessons show us how to get answers to some of the questions that they ask. Each lesson explores further questions as we introduce key scientific ideas, concepts and vocabulary in the areas of Biology, Chemistry and Physics.  

Children learn about animals, plants and their bodies, they learn about different materials and how they can be used and changed. They discover new facts taught through experiences with electricity, forces, light and sounds. 

Through work in these areas, children are taught about scientific enquiry. Children and teachers pose questions and work together to find answers by investigating and recording data. They think about making their tests fair and compare results and look for patterns. Children then communicate their findings using scientific language, drawings, tables and graphs. Learning is revisited to enable children to recall key scientific knowledge. 

Design and Technology

Design and Technology provides the children with a real-life context for learning where they can learn to think creatively and solve problems. 

Our Design and Technology Curriculum aims to engage and challenge pupils as they are inspired to create a range of structures, mechanisms, textiles, electrical systems and food products with a real life purpose within a range of relevant contexts.  

The National Curriculum for Design and Technology aims to ensure that all pupils: 

• develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world 
• build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high-quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users 
• critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others 
• understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook 

Design and Technology gives children the opportunity to investigate how well familiar objects work and how to think creatively and logically to work skilfully and with imagination. Our children are taught to look at products to see how they work, how they are used, and ask the views of people who use them. They practice skills and complete tasks to solve problems, enabling them to produce high quality products. 

Design Technology is taught through our Technology Weeks and our children learn to: 

DESIGN     MAKE     EVALUATE 

whilst building up their technical knowledge and understanding 

We use our Technology Books to collate learning and our children's work is celebrated and displayed across the school. Children learn to evaluate their own work as well as that of others and really enjoy using the technical vocabulary to describe what they have learnt.