Maths Curriculum
Maths Curriculum Statement
“Mathematics is a creative and highly interconnected discipline that has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems. It 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 therefore provides 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”. National Curriculum.
At St Clare’s, we incorporate sustained levels of challenge through varied and high quality activities with a focus on fluency, reasoning and problem solving. Pupils are required to explore maths in depth, using mathematical vocabulary to reason and explain their workings. A range of mathematical resources are used and pupils taught to show their workings in a concrete fashion, before establishing ways of pictorially and formally representing their understanding. They are taught to explain their choice of methods and develop their mathematical reasoning skills.
Intent:
At St Clare’s, we have developed a mastery approach to the teaching of Mathematics. This style of teaching has revolutionised the way in which maths is taught, learnt and viewed by all in the school. By using a Mastery approach, everyone is able to believe maths is a subject in which they can achieve and many pupils are being challenged to explore concepts in greater depth.
We aim to provide a high-quality mathematics education with a mastery approach so that all pupils:
• become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics;
• reason mathematically;
• solve problems by applying their mathematics.
Our ethos is that all pupils can be successful in the study of mathematics. We teach the skills to ensure our pupils are resilient learners who become life-long mathematicians. We aim to deliver an inspiring and engaging mathematics curriculum through high quality teaching.
In order to improve our mastery approach and improve the quality of our maths teaching, we have implemented the Power Maths approach. The Power Maths model enables pupils to be numerate, creative, independent, inquisitive, enquiring and confident. Pupils should not be afraid to make mistakes and should fully embrace the fact that mistakes are part of learning. A mastery curriculum promotes a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of the subject, so that pupils become fluent in calculations; possess a growing confidence to reason mathematically and hone their problem-solving skills.
The intention of the Maths curriculum at St Clare’s Catholic Primary School is for pupils to be excited about maths. Teachers promote pupils enjoyment of maths and provide opportunities for pupils to build a conceptual understanding of maths before applying their knowledge to everyday problems and challenges. We ensure that challenge is provided for all pupils, whatever their understanding.
Implementation:
At St Clare’s, we recognise that children need to be confident and fluent across each yearly objective. To ensure consistent coverage, teachers follow the Power Maths scheme of learning to support their planning. Teachers are also developing their understanding of mastery whilst working within the Maths Hub.
High quality resources are used in conjunction with Power Maths, such as NRich and NCETM to support, stretch and challenge all children within the classroom. In addition, the school’s calculation policy is used to ensure a coherent approach to teaching the operations across our school.
Our curriculum builds on the concrete, pictorial, abstract approach. By using all three, the pupils can explore and demonstrate their mathematical understanding. Together, these elements help to cement knowledge so pupils truly understand new mathematical concepts.
Throughout St Clare’s you will see these three methods being used:
Concrete – pupils have the opportunity to use concrete objects and manipulatives to help them understand and explain what they are doing.
Pictorial – pupils then build on this concrete approach by using pictorial representations, which can then be used to reason and solve problems.
Abstract – with the foundations firmly laid by using the concrete and pictorial methods the pupils can move onto an abstract approach using numbers and key concepts with confidence.
Impact:
The impact of our Maths curriculum is:
- We have children who enjoy mathematics and access their learning at level appropriate to their needs,
- We use resources effectively including our calculation policy.
- Pupils understand the purpose of mathematics and can use their skills confidently in other subject areas.
- Pupils can achieve and make progress due to essential skills being prioritised and mastered.
Summative assessment takes place at the end of each unit and pupils’ progress and attainment are discussed by teachers and the Senior Leadership Team. Formative assessment takes place on a daily basis and teachers adjust planning accordingly to meet the needs of their class. In addition, we place a strong emphasis on the power of questioning: this enables us both to explore topics together as a class as well as verbally develop reasoning skills during our lessons.