Noticing and investigating for effective internal evaluation

It is the beginning of the year and I am finding out where my students are in their Reading, Writing or Maths. I am on the noticing phase of the evaluation cycle given below.

Initial testing results in Maths showed

The graph above shows that more than 50% of students were below or well below in Maths. I also noticed that these students were the ones who were very disengaged during Maths times as well.
I had no clue why they did not like doing Maths and so I collected some student voice.
This was mainly based on their past experiences in their previous classes.

I asked them if they liked Maths and if no why? 
These were their reasons -

7 out 10 said that they did not like it
7 out of 10 said they find it hard.
It's always a catching up with their peers and it seemed that they knew very little.
They were kind of scared that they might not understand and get into trouble for that.
because they were shy to ask if you went wrong.

When I asked the similar question of my Stage E5 and 6 students they said that-

Maths was like a good challenge
When I go to the shops they could count the money to give to the shopkeeper.
because it's fun.

What does this mean for me as a teacher? because I need to tip the way the majority of students respond to Maths learning. So here is my plan-

• Talk to the class and tell them that Maths is no ghost.
• Tell them that anyone can do Maths
• Support them and show them that I care when they get stuck.
• Slow down when they do nor understand.
• Celebrate when they accomplish.