Maths

At Parkgate House, our aim is to nurture a love of numbers and to empower children to see Maths as practical and relevant to everything we do. We aim to ensure pupils become increasingly fluent, develop their ability to solve a range of problems and develop mathematical reasoning.  Our children are given the opportunity to take their Maths learning further through co-curricular maths clubs and competitions. 

Each year in the Autumn Term, we hold a Parkgate House Maths Week. This academic year, Maths Week made links between STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects and enabled the children to see the importance of maths in their lives and how maths has shaped the world we know today. This also provided the children with the opportunity to dress up as their favourite inventor linked to STEM.  

In Prep 3 the pupils have Power Maths sessions. Using the same formula as Power Reading, the pupils are split into 3 or 4 groups, each with an adult, and spend 15 minutes each day doing mental arithmetic on top of their usual Maths lessons. The pupils answer a range of questions from topics across the Maths curriculum, with the focus being on increasing accuracy and speed. Our assessments have shown that the pupils make huge progress, both individually and as a cohort, through this additional practice. You can see our Power Maths and Power Reading sessions in action here.

At Parkgate House, we frequently link Maths to other subjects, particularly Science, ICT and Geography. Children are always encouraged to problem solve both individually and in teams and to make rich connections with numbers and maths in their everyday lives. 

Children are also given opportunities to push their Maths learning further through in-house and national maths competitions. Each year, our Prep 5 and Prep 6 children take part in the National Primary Maths Challenge, with some stimulating and tricky puzzles to solve. Prep 3 and 4 children enter the First Maths Challenge, which provides a ‘warm-up’ to the Primary Maths Challenge.  Prep 3 children also take part in the annual Times Table Challenge in the Spring Term, to support their re-call of the 2-12 times tables.