Our Intent
At St. Cuthbert's, our aim is that all children can be successful in the study of mathematics. Maths is for everyone! We teach skills to ensure our children are resilient learners who realise the importance of mathematics in everyday life. We provide our pupils with a mathematics curriculum and high-quality teaching to produce individuals who are numerate, independent, inquisitive, enquiring and confident.
We provide a stimulating environment and resources so that pupils can develop their mathematical skills to the full. The 2014 National Curriculum for Maths aims to ensure that all children:
• Become fluent in the fundamentals of Mathematics
• Are able to reason mathematically
• Can solve problems by applying their Mathematics.
At St. Cuthbert's, these skills are embedded within maths lessons and developed consistently over time. We are committed to ensuring that children are able to recognise the importance of maths and that they are able to use their mathematical skills and knowledge confidently in their lives in a range of different contexts. We ensure that our children are immersed in mathematical vocabulary. We want all children to enjoy mathematics and to experience success in the subject, with an ability in both arithmetic skills and to reason mathematically.
Our Implementation
At St Cuthbert’s, we follow the White Rose approach for teaching mathematics. Teaching mathematics though this scheme of study ensures that all children can access an appropriate level of learning for their age and have equal opportunities to progress within the subject. Small steps within each topic ensures progression with scaffolding, physical resources and direct intervention in place to support pupils individual needs. Challenges, additional activities, and problems which require a deeper understanding allow higher attaining pupils to be pushed to reach their targets.
We follow a mastery approach to our lessons. Our teaching of mastery is based around the five big ideas representation and structure, mathematical thinking, fluency, variation and coherence. Lessons are constructed to reinforce competence within number whilst giving time for problem solving in every lesson. Children develop their reasoning skills by explaining how they solved each calculation and working to find the most efficient method. A range of concrete, pictorial and abstract ideas are skilfully planned into lessons to develop deep thinking. This allows children to make mathematical connections and move between different contexts and representations.
Lesson planning follows the ‘White Rose’ small step progression structure with additional content added depending on the needs of the class. A clear and comprehensive overview and a progression of skills, in each strand of mathematics, shows how learning progresses within and across year groups. Small steps for each strand build upon prior knowledge and develop new concepts. Lessons will consist of recaps, mathematical talk between teacher and pupils as well as pupils and their peers and structure independent tasks.
In KS2 mixed classes, maths teaching will follow the ‘White Rose’ mixed small step progression documents. Children will work on similar topics with the younger cohort completing scaffolded work to ensure differentiation. In some cases, they will be exposed to topics from the older cohort’s curriculum; this will be done in a way so that both sets of children can access the learning at an appropriate level.
In addition to the White Rose scheme of study, we engage our children in daily basic skills which are underpinned by IRFs (instant recall facts). The expectation is that pupils will engage with overlearning of key recall facts and will readily recall these, develop skills of automaticity. The IRFs are published alongside the medium term planning on this webpage.
Our Impact
Upon leaving St Cuthbert’s, children will be confident mathematicians, able to use correct mathematical language, solve problems and explain their methods. They will be prepared to apply their skills to a KS3 curriculum.
Our pupils will aim to:
• have a well-developed sense of the size of a number and where it fits into the number system
• know by heart number facts such as number bonds, multiplication tables, doubles and halves
• use the facts they know by heart to figure out numbers and calculations mentally
• calculate accurately and efficiently, both mentally and on paper,
• draw on a range of calculation strategies
• make sense of number problems, including ’real’ problems and identify the operations needed to solve them
• explain their methods and reasoning, using correct mathematical terms and vocabulary
• judge whether their answers are reasonable and have strategies for checking them where necessary
• suggest suitable units for measuring and make sensible estimates of measurements
• explain and make predictions from the numbers in graphs, diagrams, charts and tables
• develop spatial awareness and an understanding of the properties of 2D and 3D shapes
