Purpose of study

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.

Intent - What Do We Aspire For Our Children?

At St Anne's, all children are entitled to access all aspects of the curriculum, enabling them to achieve confidence and competence in mathematics. The fundamental idea is that all children develop a deep understanding of the mathematics they are learning. This is central to the planning and provision of mathematics at St Anne's. Learning is carefully sequenced, taking into account what has been taught before, and what knowledge and skills are needed for the next stage of our children’s mathematical development. Mathematics is purposefully planned to be taught explicitly across the wider curriculum in subjects such as (but not limited to) science, history and geography. 

Three key aims rest at the heart of our mathematics curriculum:

1. For children to be fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics,
2. For children to reason mathematically, 
3. For children to solve routine and non-routine problems with increasing independence. 

By achieving these aims, our children will leave Year 6 as knowledgeable, skilful and confident mathematicians ready for the next phase of their learning.

Characteristics of a Mathematician

• An understanding of the important concepts and an ability to make connections within mathematics.
• A broad range of skills in using and applying mathematics.
• Fluent knowledge and recall of number facts and the number system.
• The ability to show initiative in solving problems in a wide range of contexts, including the new or unusual.
• The ability to think independently and to persevere when faced with challenges, showing a confidence of success.
• The ability to embrace the value of learning from mistakes and false starts.
• The ability to reason, generalise and make sense of solutions.
• Fluency in performing written and mental calculations and mathematical techniques.
• A wide range of mathematical vocabulary.
• A commitment to and passion for the subject.

Implementation

At  St. Anne's Primary School, our curriculum is carefully mapped out into a Long Term Plan. This enables links between subjects to be identified and carefully planned for to support pupil’s retention of knowledge and skills.

The academic year is broken down into strands of work which form the key concepts. Each strand and unit builds upon prior learning, within the current year group and from previous year groups.

All pupils take part in a daily maths lesson. All children will be exposed to a fluency based activity, set at age related expectations. Children are then exposed to a wide range of fluency style questions within a range of everyday contexts. From here, pupils then progress on to applying their acquired skills within reasoning and problem solving style questions. Tackling progressively difficult problems, which draw upon learning and skills from many mathematical areas, children display confidence and efficiency in their work. All children will complete a Post Learning Assessment written by the White Rose Maths Hub. Questions are carefully chosen based on what the children have been exposed to over the course of their topic. They are accessible to all children, especially those who are visual learners.  Not all pupils will complete all of the activities during a sequence of learning but it is important that all pupils are given the opportunity to access the fluency and application stages at an age related expectation, unless there is a significant SEN issue that prevents them from doing so.

Maths in EYFS is taught daily using White Rose Maths and is designed by White Rose to spark curiosity and excitement. It is built around a child centered lesson design that models and embeds a growth mindset to allow for a deeper understanding of maths.

In addition to the dedicated maths lesson, additional maths meetings are held  for 15 mins each day. Pupils will practice key arithmetic skills which are relevant to each child’s year group and their learning which they have either revisited or newly acquired. To further enhance the children’s rapid recall of number facts, the children access Times Table Rock Stars which give the pupil’s unlimited opportunities online to apply their knowledge of all tables up to 12. As well as accessing the programme online, children are able to complete paper versions within their classroom. 

Finally, teachers will seek to take advantage of opportunities to make cross curricular links. Staff will plan for pupils to practice and apply their skills, knowledge and understanding acquired through maths lessons in other areas of the curriculum.

Impact:

A wide range of strategies are used to measure the impact of our Maths curriculum.

Assessment forms an integral part of the teaching and learning of this subject. The formative assessment of maths is essential when identifying the strengths of individual children and their next steps. Post Learning assessments, created by the White Rose Maths Hub, are completed at the end of each topic to identify the progress pupils have made. Judgements are then triangulated against end of topic assessments, evidence in books and the age related expectations for each year group. The assessments give a clear learning journey of all pupils. If pupils have misconceptions or gaps in their subject knowledge, additional teaching and support is immediately provided. Summative judgements of maths are made each term.. The progress of individual pupils are carefully monitored on a termly basis and those identified as not making progress are given high quality intervention. All children from Years 1 – 6 complete termly assessments. The data generated from these assessments are then analysed and actions put in place to move children forwards, ready for the next term. Pupils in Years 2 and 6 complete their Standard Assessment Tests (SATs) during the Summer term.

We will also monitor the effectiveness of the maths curriculum through carrying out regular school self evaluations. These evaluations are quality assured by the Senior Leadership Team and Governors.