Inspire • Enrich • Enjoy • Succeed

"Without mathematics, there’s nothing you can do. Everything around you is mathematics. Everything around you is numbers."
Shakuntala Devi, Indian writer and mental calculator

At STW we fully recognise the importance of mathematics in everyday life, enabling children to understand and appreciate relationships and patterns in both number and shape.  Mathematics teaches us how to make sense of the world around us through developing a child’s ability to calculate, to reason and to solve problems.

We know that a growth mindset is key to learning success in mathematics, and as such are committed to cultivating confidence, perseverance and a recognition that mistakes and misconceptions (when effectively addressed) are a valuable part of the learning journey.  We believe that all children can, and will, succeed in mathematics.

Our Mathematics curriculum aims to inspire, engage and challenge pupils. In line with the National Curriculum for Mathematics 2014 and the EYFS Statutory Framework, it is our intent that by the time our children leave our school they will:

• Have a positive experience of learning mathematics from which they are enthused and confident to build their future learning;
• Possess accurate and rapid recall of key mathematical facts;
• Know and be able to use mathematical language to explain their reasoning;
• Be able to recognise and make links between mathematical concepts;
• Be equipped with mathematical knowledge and skills which are not only transferable across other curriculum subjects, but can be used to solve problems in the wider world.

Our planning, teaching and learning in mathematics is underpinned by a ‘mastery’ approach.  Lesson planning is underpinned by the 'small step' approach central to White Rose which ensures that all children master concepts before moving to the next step. Conceptual understanding is at the heart of learning; children are given the chance to develop knowledge and understanding through access to a wide range of manipulatives, pictorial representations and abstract methods. Wherever possible, links between concepts and knowledge are made. Our childrenare presented with problems from a varied contexts to solve. They are expected to reason and clearly explain their thinking mathematically. We firmly believe that the answer is ‘only the beginning’, and support and encourage our children to explain why an answer is correct or not.

Creating a positive experience of mathematics from the moment a child starts their primary school journey is essential.  We achieve this by making mathematics fun and weaving it through day to day learning. Our children are introduced to NumberBlocks in Early Years. Through this, they develop a broad and deep understanding of each number and its significance in mathematics (i.e. in learning about the number three, they can: link it to number two; subitise; read three o’clock; recognise triangles). This deeper understanding continues to be built upon as they move into Key Stage 1 and then on to Key Stage 2. The learning and knowledge identified within White Rose materials ensures effective sequencing and progressive learning. It allows for children to revisit concepts regularly and supports our commitment to embedding knowledge and learning into long term memory.

The significance of a rich mathematical knowledge including fluency of key number facts is recognised and to help develop this, children are given daily opportunities in addition to maths lessons. This includes a 5-a-day exercise (revisiting knowledge recently taught), NumBots (for addition and subtraction) and Times Table Rock Stars (for multiplication facts). 

Mastering Number (NCETM)

In Reception, Years 1 & 2, we have introduced Mastering Number as a supplement to the daily mathematics lesson. 

"This project aims to secure firm foundations in the development of good number sense for all children from Reception through to Year 1 and Year 2. The aim over time is that children will leave KS1 with fluency in calculation and a confidence and flexibility with number."  NCETM

Whilst we ensure coverage of the National Curriculum requirements, the pace of teaching and learning is responsive to the needs of our children (as identified through both formative and summative assessment). We recognise that secure foundations of learning are needed for children to develop a deep level of knowledge and understanding which they can then apply in a range of rich and broad contexts (demonstrating fluency, reasoning and problem solving). Marking and feedback is used to identify individual needs; in the moment and same day intervention take place wherever possible to address misconceptions and overcome barriers to learning.

Within our Federation, we predominately use White Rose teaching resources for planning teaching and learning in Maths.  To ensure consistency in teaching and learning approaches across the Federation, we use the White Rose Calculation Policy. This policy illustrates the different representations and models that we use to support learning and our approach to mastery teaching in mathematics:

Consistent use of correct mathematical vocabulary underpins our teaching of the four operations and links to these can be found below:

The progression of learning across the primary phase for each mathematical concept can be found in the following document: