Mathematics

At St Mary's we recognise that Mathematics is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. A high quality mathematics education is therefore needed to provide a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.

To read more, please see the National Curriculum.

 

The Curriculum

In our school, we teach math using the 'Teaching for Mastery' approach. Mastering maths means pupils acquiring a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of the subject. Achieving mastery means acquiring a solid enough understanding of the maths that’s been taught to enable pupils to move on to more advanced material. Our Long Term Plan in each year group is developed from the White Rose Math yearly overviews. Using these as a foundation, we have ensured that we teach all key concepts in a logical order and that skills and knowledge is built upon year to year. 

In lessons we use a range of strategies to support children in learning a mathematical concept, including:

  • Multiple models and representations – To help learners make connections and see links, we expose children to a wide variety of representations and mathematical structures (e.g. tens frames, arrays, Numicon, Dienes, part-whole model).
  • Step-by-step approach – The journey through each lesson is built on carefully structured steps in order to expose the mathematics of the concept being taught with small enough jumps between ideas to try to enable all learners to keep up.
  • Resources and pictures- We have lots of lovely resources that we use in lessons to support children's understanding of a concept. 
  • Questions – To develop deeper understanding and the ability to reason and explain, teachers use effective questioning throughout every lesson to check understanding and prompt thinking. 
  • Talk – Discussion is a powerful and essential element of each lesson. Learners have frequent opportunities to talk to their peers so that they may explain/clarify their thinking throughout the lesson, as well as opportunities for discussion with the teacher which helps develop their reasoning skills and deeper understanding.
  • Reasoning and Problem-solving – We understand that developing strong reasoning skills is an essential process. Each lesson aims to provide the opportunity for all learners to solve problems and reason, encouraging deeper understanding.
  • Mental Math- The foundations of mental calculation and recall of number facts are established thoroughly through daily starters (Flashback 4) which consolidate mental recall and informal/written calculations and revisits information the children have previously learned.
  • Intervention – For all learners, on-the-spot marking and feedback helps to ensure that most misconceptions and difficulties are picked up within the lesson and addressed there and then. For learners that are struggling with a concept, same-day intervention is often employed to reteach or practice the maths, thus trying to ensure all learners are ready to move on together.  
    ​

For more details, please read our Mathematics Policy:

Mathematics Policy

 

Long Term Plan

Maths - Long Term Plan for Topics

 

Mathematical Concepts

Maths Concepts

 

Progression of Skills and Knowledge

Progression in Maths

 

Math Passport

Each year at St Mary's, all pupils receive a 'Learning Passport'. This passport contains all of the skills and knowledge that they will learn that year. It also has all of the skills and knowledge they have covered in the past. Teachers refer to this passport regularly and pupils view it frequently to ensure 'sticky knowledge' is developed- this means that pupils are quickly recalling what they have already learnt so skills and knowledge can be built on each year. 

Maths Passport

 

How to Support at Home
  • Support your child with their weekly home learning tasks
  • Talk to your child about what math learning they did that day
  • All children have a NumBots account. Please encourage your child to use it to learn their Number Bonds
  • Children from Year 1 to Year 6 have a TT Rockstars account, please encourage them to use it at home to help with their times table recall
  • Attend our yearly math workshops to develop an understanding of the math strategies we use in school
  • Come into class each morning to look at your child's learning, you may notice something they are finding tricky that you would want to help them with at home