Maths
Subject Leader - Miss Leach
Intent
Through our Maths curriculum at St Joseph’s, we strive to provide a maths mastery curriculum that is accessible to all and will maximise the development of every child’s ability and academic achievement.
We aim to deliver lessons that are enjoyable, engaging and challenging whilst developing each child’s fluency and mathematical reasoning as well as enabling competency in solving increasingly more complex problems. We believe that fluency, reasoning and problem-solving are intertwined and of equal importance.
We intend to create a nurturing and supportive maths environment where children are not only unafraid of making mistakes but can learn from them, therefore helping them to develop resilience and perseverance alongside a love of Maths.
Implementation
The maths programme of study at St Joseph’s follows the National Curriculum to ensure both progression and coverage across Key Stage 1 and 2. This is supplemented by the White Rose Maths Scheme, which provides a sequence of ‘small step’ lessons for staff to adapt to the needs of our pupils.
Staff follow the schemes and the sequence of lessons provided, adapting them where they think necessary using AFL within the lessons and moving at the correct pace for the children in the class. These sequences of lessons also provide children with the opportunity to recap on learning from the year before and help children make links between previous learning and new content.
In addition, staff can supplement lessons with a wide range of resources including the White Rose resources, the NCTEM Spine materials, TT Rockstars and Numbots as well as using a variety of manipulatives to further aid learning.
Impact
- The teaching of maths across the school is at least good in all classes. This will be evidenced through lesson observations and book audits. The teaching of mastery maths is embedded in all classes and children are taught using consistent approaches and methods across all year groups.
- Children will be mathematically fluent, have good rapid recall skills and will be proficient in their arithmetic skills.
- Children will develop a love of maths and will have confidence in their own abilities.
- Reasoning and problem-solving is evident in all lessons across the school. This may not always be seen in books but children will be exposed to reasoning and problem-solving during inputs and whole class discussions.
- The use of resources across our school has improved. Children are confident in their own abilities and the consistent approach used across the school in terms of lesson format allows children to easily focus when learning new concepts. Children have a love for maths and feel comfortable making mistakes and learning from them. Children have an excellent understanding of the concepts that underpin different areas of maths, which will enable them to make progress in each key stage.
- Teachers are confident in the teaching of maths and are following the White Rose Small Steps but are confident enough to adapt the scheme to suit the children’s needs. This curriculum has enabled the children to recap, and therefore embed, prior knowledge, before moving on to their year group objectives.
- Children will make at least their expected progress across the school and numbers achieving Age Related Expectations at the end of Year 6 will continue to rise, as will the number of children achieving Greater Depth'.
Mastery Approach
What is it and how does our curriculum deliver it?
Mastery means having a secure understanding of mathematical concepts and processes, combined with genuine procedural fluency. A child who has mastered a particular skill is able to apply their understanding and solve different types of problems, including where the skill is either embedded in a different context, or where a choice of method has to be made. For example, a child who has mastered adding two 2-digit numbers should be able to identify where this is required, even when it is not presented in a straightforward way (e.g. ⬜ - 23 = 39) and also choose an efficient strategy for doing it (e.g. 40 + 22).
Some children will be able to achieve mastery with greater depth. This means that they are able to apply their understanding of a concept in a wider variety of contexts, some of which are more difficult. They can manipulate the facts they know and the skills they possess in order to solve more complex problems. More developed forms of mathematical reasoning are central to this process and enable the recognition of a link between operations and processes.
Common features of mastery include:
- An expectation that all children can succeed in maths, is often achieved by keeping the class together.
- Children have a secure and sustainable understanding of mathematical concepts through consistent models and images being used.
- Children are fluent in mathematical procedures and number facts by rehearsing these in systematic ways.
- Children develop resilience within maths to persevere when looking deeper into maths and when asked to explain their thinking.
- Children who master a concept easily are expected to deepen their understanding, for example by applying it to solve problems embedded in mathematical investigations or more complex contexts.
- Children who do not master an objective with the rest of the class should be supported to enable them to gain more experience and achieve mastery, for example through same-day intervention, plus longer-term help if necessary
Our Maths Policy, our Addition and Subtraction Policy, and our Multiplication Calculation Policy provide further detail about the aims, structure and organisation of Maths within the school. This overview shows the progression in calculation.
Here is a vocabulary list of all the words your children should be using in maths.
Your child will be sent home 'Learn by Heart Targets' to practise key skills in maths:
Reception, Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4, Y5, Y6
In Y4, the children have to set a multiplication test (see their class page for further details). There is a parents' leaflet explaining the test here.
