Mathematics

'Learning God's Way'

Intent

At St Mary’s, we believe that maths is essential to everyday life and provides a foundation for understanding the world. Children have a naturally enquiring mind and we want to ignite that sense of curiosity of maths in them and ensure that they enjoy the subject. Our aim in maths is to enable the children to become fluent in the fundamentals, reason mathematically and solve problems by applying their learning to varied situations with confidence. Through the teaching of our core values, with a particular focus on perseverance, and our key drivers, we want to support our children in becoming the best mathematicians they can be, equipped to deal with the maths in ‘real life.’

Having an embedded understanding of mathematics and that all important number sense will give them confidence and access to every aspect of life is an integral skill that will allow young people to succeed in life.

Our teaching of mathematics is based on the National Curriculum Programmes of Study and the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). We can help our children acquire proficiency by giving a sharp focus to the relevant aspects of the programmes of study for mathematics. We do this through a daily lesson that has a high proportion of whole-class teaching based on a ‘Teaching For Mastery’ approach – a highly inclusive way to teach which provides deep learning opportunities for all children with rich questioning and powerful models.

National Curriculum Content (main aims)

We aim for all pupils to:

• become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics so that they develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.

• be able to solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of problems with increasing sophistication, including in unfamiliar contexts and to model real-life scenarios

• reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry and develop and present a justification, argument or proof using mathematical language.

There are three types of knowledge in maths:-

Declarative knowledge - ‘I know that…’ and refers to facts and formulae, and the relationship between facts (conceptual knowledge.)

Procedural knowledge - ‘I know how…’ and refers to methods and the principles underpinning them.

Conditional knowledge - ‘I know when…’ and refers to knowledge and understanding of strategies that can be used to reason and solve problems.

Implementation

At St Mary's, we follow White Rose Maths as our main scheme of learning. The White Rose Maths scheme of work aims to show pupils that everyone can do maths and inspire children's love for this fascinating subject. Covering a wide range of school years, it aims to develop pupils' reasoning, fluency and problem-solving skills. 

The resources we use have been developed with the national curriculum in mind, so you can rest assured your child's class will be working towards meeting the curriculum aims.

Each year is split into three terms (autumn, spring and summer), and each term comprises individual blocks of learning about a particular topic. We place a high value on the secure understanding of number and spend lots of time building strong number skills in Reception, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. These essential core skills lay a solid foundation for more complex learning later on. Number skills are revisited and rehearsed with regular Numbersense sessions, fluency sessions within maths lessons and through the use of Numbots and Times Table Rockstars. Weekly homework is available in KS1 and  set in KS2 to help children to secure and consolidate skills and retain learning.

Our mathematics lessons build fluency, problem solving and reasoning through sequences of carefully planned and resourced lessons. We use a range of concrete (practical apparatus such as cubes, counters etc) pictorial (diagrams and representations) and abstract (written, problem solving, application tasks) activities and resources to support children's learning.

Impact

What Is the Impact? 

By learning maths in this way, children: 

•  See the value of maths in real life 
• Feel confident to explore, ask questions, and take risks 
• Understand that mistakes are part of learning 
• Take pride in their work and progress 
• Develop strong problem-solving skills 
• Children can reason mathematically 

To measure progress, we use a mix of classroom discussions, tests, and teacher assessments. More importantly, we focus on how well children can think, explain, and apply their learning, rather than just getting the right answers.