Over the last two weeks, the year 4 class have been competing in a maths times tables competition with 11 other schools in DSAT. 651 pupils took part across 32 classes and I am very proud to announce that St. Alban’s Year 4 finished 1st in “Top of the Rocks”. It was a phenomenal effort by the children as they showed their dedication to learning by putting in the hours, in and out of school.
We read Handa’s Surprise and counted fruit, painted and modelled to represent 6, 7 & 8! 
I am looking forward to our session on supporting your child with telling the time.
Date: 23rd January
Time: 2.15pm
Location: School hall
If you are coming to the session, please can you complete the Google Form so I know how many resources we will need.
Thank you
Mrs. Staniforth
Today, we represented square numbers using counters.
A square number is the result of multiplying a number by itself.
In Nursery, we have been learning about measuring.
First, we practised our counting and showed different ways of showing numbers on our fingers.
We read the story of Jack and the Beanstalk and then searched our classroom to find things that were longer, shorter or the same length as the Giant’s footprint. This spoon is the same length as the Giant’s footprint.
We went outside and made long and short play dough models.
We found out more about the words full and empty by filling buckets.
Today, Reception Class really enjoyed having fun with doubling. First, we warmed up by counting forwards and backwards and then subitising. (Subitising means we don’t count we say the amount!)
Then we played a doubling game with dice. Double 3 is 6.
We had lots of fun carrying on our doubling to practice our skills independently.
Thank you to all the parents who came to our Maths Parent Meeting this afternoon. I know how much fun you all had doing maths!
At St Alban’s, we believe that our ambitious maths curriculum ensures that all children know and remember more.
In maths lessons, prior knowledge needs to be deliberately activated so at the start of every maths session before new ideas are introduced, time is spent enabling all children to revisit the knowledge they will need. This REVIEW helps children to make connections and should be generative so all students are engaged in retrieving their existing schema.
A key challenge for learning is that working memory is limited.
There are lots of things that can cause it to be overwhelmed.
Learning facts to automaticity, can help to ensure that working memory remains focused on the information that is being taught.
ALL children need a DEEP understanding of the maths they are learning.
Topics last for as long as the children need to grow and embed their learning.
Remember, we are all mathematicians.