Maths

Ben Fox joined Wetherby as a teaching assistant in January 2007 after a term at Abingdon House School. He completed his GTP qualification a year later after teaching classes in Years 1,2 and 3, and also teaching Years 4 and 5 at Wetherby Prep. Ben took over Mr Snell as the Head of Maths in Year 2 and after two years was given the role of Maths Subject Leader.

Before arriving at Wetherby, Ben managed a variety of children’s clubs in the UK and Europe and worked with children from the age of 4-17 from differing social backgrounds.

Ben is originally from Sherborne in Dorset and is a keen music fan, who enjoys swimming, running and the sun when he can find it!

Each year group in the school has a Maths lesson every day. The emphasis is on the four operations and the number bonds, as well as mental calculations and problem solving. We spend a great deal of time teaching each concept in a practical manner before transferring it into a more formal structure. We endeavour to make Maths fun and very enjoyable for everyone.

We also teach Reasoning from Year One and the pupils are taught lateral thinking skills, which are applicable to many areas of the curriculum. We encourage the use of many different strategies to solve the problems posed in these lessons.

The Reception classes cover such concepts as counting and recognising numbers up to 20, correct formation of numbers, bigger than and smaller than, number patterns, addition and subtraction of vertical and horizontal sums, numbers before and after and they solve simple number problems. The boys also sing number songs, learn to recognise shapes and begin to understand time, money and measurement.

The Year One classes cover such concepts as place value, number bonds, sequencing, missing number patterns, formal addition and subtraction, times tables and word problems. The boys also study odd and even numbers, fractions, 2D and 3D shapes, money, time, symmetry, measuring, pictograms and bar charts.

The Year Two classes build on what has been taught in Year One and study multiplication, division and word problems involving all four operations, money and time. The boys also learn doubling, halving, rounding, length, mass and capacity, position, movement and direction and they do mathematical investigations.

The Year Three classes revise and extend all concepts covered in Year Two as well as the covering decimals, area, angles, Venn diagrams, sets, circles and co-ordinates.