St Matthew's C.E Primary School

Mathematics

"Mathematics is not about numbers, equations, computations, or algorithms: it is about understanding."

William Paul Thurston

At St Matthew’s Primary school, our school vision is to encourage all children to flourish spiritually, morally, emotionally, physically and intellectually in all aspects of life demonstrating perseverance and resilience; this is emulated across all curriculum areas. 

Intent

We strongly believe that mathematics is a fundamental skill that is not just about numbers, equations, calculations or algorithms but about developing a conceptual understanding of the world around us allowing us to become logical thinkers who can develop appropriate strategies to solve and embrace problems and difficulties we may encounter.

We know the importance of linking maths to everyday life, aiming to make the learning relevant to the children with an intention to develop a passion for maths through providing children with hands on and real-life learning opportunities.

Through delivering high-quality lessons that recap on previous learning and encapsulate the use of concrete, pictorial and abstract representation, we believe all learners are given the opportunity to access their learning and progress appropriately in maths. 

Implementation

Here at St Matthew’s, practitioners use curriculum maps to inform their planning and teaching which are in line with the national curriculum. 

• Through using the White Rose scheme of work as an initial building-block, teachers can deliver a clear sequence of core learning that offers a range of learning opportunities, in the form of concrete, pictorial and abstract representation, to facilitate all learners.
• Whilst we use White Rose as an initial driver, at St Matthew’s, we understand the importance of ensuring retention in maths and using quality formative assessment to review our planning and teaching when necessary.
• We recognise the importance of supplementing the White Rose scheme of work with other high-quality resources such as Nrich, NCTEM, Convince Me cards and I-See reasoning to encourage deeper mathematical thinkers.
• Ensuring retention in maths is crucial for our children to become successful learners so through the implementation of starter activities, children are regularly given the opportunity to revisit core concepts and allow misconceptions to be regularly addressed.
• We encourage independent critical thinking through the facilitation of a range of reasoning, problem solving and real life opportunities for all children to access.
• At our school, children study mathematics daily allowing them to develop core aspects of the curriculum: numbers, calculation, fractions, geometry, measure and statistics. These lessons are structured to build on fluency, reasoning and problem-solving skills allowing children to become resilient, confident and independent learners. 
• Across the school, children are given opportunities to improve their fluency skills during arithmetic practise which are stand alone lessons but often encompassed in starter activities too.
• Children are also allocated time to practise their multiplication skills using a range of mediums to encourage fluency and improvement in their multiplication and division facts. Through the use of TTrockStars, children are encouraged to practise this skill at home and are regularly given opportunities to complete battles which helps develop a real desire to succeed and improve their skills.  

Impact

At St Matthew’s, our curriculum and teaching aims to give children a curriculum that allows them to develop skills, independence and resilience to embrace challenging problems and endeavour new challenges. 

• Every term, we measure the impact of the children’s progress using summative assessment devices such as Otrack and end of Key Stage tests. This allows us to track their progress and make any alterations to future planning to improve the learning of our pupils.  Formative assessment is ongoing and takes place throughout maths lessons daily. 
• We regularly listen to the pupil voice to inform our planning and measure the impact of our teaching.
• We aim for our children to be able to articulate their learning clearly providing clear explanations and key mathematical vocabulary in their answers.
• By the time the pupils leave our school, we want our children to become resilient, independent learners who understand how to use a range of strategies and resources when dealing with difficult and new challenges.
• We endeavour for them to be fluent in key skills and mathematical concepts that will not only equip them for a successful start to secondary school but to become a successful life-long learner.