Calculation Documents   

This calculation Policy for Tansley Primary School has been largely adapted from the White Rose Maths Hub Calculation Policy with further material to be added where appropriate. It is a working document and will be revised and amended, as necessary.

This calculation policy sets out the methods, resources and terminology used to help our pupils with calculations and has been devised to meet requirements of the National Curriculum 2014 (and subsequent amendments thereafter), for the teaching and learning of mathematics. It is also designed to give pupils a consistent and smooth progression of learning in calculations for the four operations across the school and has been developed in conjunction with the progression document for each year group.

Pupils are taught strategies to develop and strengthen their mental agility on a daily basis. They also need to be able to apply written calculation skills in order to:

· represent work that has been done practically

· support, record and explain mental calculation

· keep track of steps in a longer task

· work out calculations that are too difficult to do mentally

The Calculation Policy shows methods that pupils will be taught within their respective year group. It is shown in teaching order (please refer to progression document for relevant year group and guidance on when this will be covered). Children should be confident in choosing and using a strategy that they know will get them to the correct answer as efficiently as possible; pupils are free to choose their preferred method to solve calculations. When children encounter difficulties, teachers may encourage pupils to refer to the previous models of calculation to ensure the child has a sound conceptual understanding.

Concrete, Visual, Abstract: A key principle behind White Rose Maths and Maths Mastery is based on the concrete, visual and abstract approach. Pupils are first introduced to an idea or skill by acting it out with real objects (a “hands-on approach”). Pupils then are moved onto the visual stage, where pupils are encouraged to relate the concrete understanding to pictorial representations. The final abstract stage is a change for pupils to represent problems by sign mathematical notion. Whilst this calculation policy aims to show the CVA approach to the different calculations, it is not always noted further up the year groups. However, it is expected that the CVA approach is used continuously in all new learning and calculations even when not noted.