The Maths Curriculum Overview
Singapore Maths — No Problem!
We believe that every child can master an understanding and love of maths with the right kind of teaching and support. Our core maths curriculum follows the Maths No Problem programme.
Maths Mastery for EYFS
Children are exploring and immersing themselves in maths from a very young age. They are introduced to the basics of maths in a variety of ways. Covering various topics within Development Matters. This means that when they approach topics further in the year they already have a deeper understanding of number and shape, space and measure. They question and examine numbers in a practical way both indoors and outdoors in order to prepare themselves for the transition into Y1 and the beginning of Maths No Problem.
Maths — No Problem! is a series of textbooks and workbooks written to meet the requirements of the 2014 English national curriculum.
Teaching Maths for Mastery
When teaching maths for mastery, the whole class moves through topics at broadly the same pace. Ideas are revisited at higher levels as the curriculum spirals through the years.
Differentiated activities
Tasks and activities are designed to be easy for pupils to enter while containing challenging components. For advanced learners, the textbooks also contain non-routine questions for pupils to develop their higher-order thinking skills.
Problem Solving
Lessons and activities are designed to be taught using problem-solving approaches to encourage pupils’ higher-level thinking. The focus is on working with pupils’ competencies, building on what they know to develop their relational understanding, based on Richard Skemp’s work.
Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract (CPA) approach
Based on Jerome Bruner’s work, pupils learn new concepts initially using concrete examples, such as counters, then progress to drawn pictorial representations before finally using more abstract symbols, such as the = sign.
Variation
The questions and examples are carefully varied by expert authors to encourage pupils to think about the maths. Rather than provide mechanical repetition, the examples are designed to deepen pupils’ understanding and reveal misconceptions.
International research
By incorporating established research into a highly effective approach, Singapore has become a “laboratory of maths teaching”. The Primary Maths Series is founded on the international research of Piaget, Dienes, Bruner, Skemp and Vygotsky and has been tested and refined over the last 30 years in Singapore.
UK evidence
The Maths — No Problem! Primary Series was assessed by the DfE’s expert panel, which judged that it met the core criteria for a high-quality textbook to support teaching for mastery. As a result, the Maths – No Problem! Primary Series are recommended textbooks for schools on the mastery programme.
The textbooks also comply with the National Centre for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics (NCETM).
If you would like to know more about the way maths is taught at OLI, please watch the parent videos by clicking this link:
Maths No problem -Parent videos
https://mathsnoproblem.com/en/parent-videos/
Calculation guidance NCETM https://www.ncetm.org.uk/public/files/24756940/NCETM+Calculation+Guidance+Oct+2015.pdf
Family Maths Toolkit will support you and your child with our maths curriculum