Maths: Mixed Ability Teaching

Children in year 6 are currently taught in ability sets.

In year 1 to 5, we do not set or group in terms of prior attainment and accept that in any lesson, any child can be a struggling learner or a rapid grasper. We have high expectations for all children and they are taught in mixed ability classes and work in mixed ability pairs. On the whole, the class is taught together on the same objective. Teachers have high expectations of all pupils and provide support and challenge through questioning, use of resources and depth tasks. We create a safe environment whereby children feel comfortable to make mistakes, explore problems and discuss their thinking.

During a lesson, children will be provided with appropriate scaffolding, questioning and support as required and may complete different work on occasions when the class teacher/SENCO/maths leader feels this is necessary.

We provide opportunities in every lesson for pupils to work at depth or greater depth in mathematics. To promote depth, we use variation theory (conceptual and procedural) which is one of the five big ideas in Teaching for Mastery.  For example, a child who can produce a quick correct answer may be asked to solve the question using more than one other procedure, to represent the question in more than one way (such as the bar model or part whole), to write another question using the same numbers and operation.  This ensures that the children have a deep understanding of the objective being taught