Mathematics at St Charles’ Catholic Primary School 

Mathematics is a creative and highly inter-connected 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

The intent within Mathematics teaching at St Charles’ is to build a strong foundation for our children and their development into confident and successful members of society. They build resilience by being prepared to make mistakes as they grow into adults who see the power of numbers and the depth of Maths as inspiring.

Our maths curriculum is broad and balanced. It builds knowledge of numbers and calculations incrementally, using well-planned and precisely sequenced lessons that build on prior knowledge over time so that children are fluent and efficient at finding the answers to questions and feel highly motivated because they understand how the number system works.

We deliver a curriculum, which is accessible to all through use of manipulatives, visual representations and a focus on key vocabulary to help children both understand and explain concepts. Our Maths curriculum allows pupils to build on their learning in a progression of skills and understanding, enabling them to apply their learning to increasingly complex reasoning and problem solving situations. In Key Stage 1 there will be an increased focus on the use of manipulatives, to ensure children have a secure foundation of knowledge in preparation for their mathematical development. We ensure children recognise the importance of Maths in the wider world and that they can use their mathematical skills and knowledge in their lives and different contexts.

We want:

• Pupils to be able to apply their knowledge in other subject areas.
• Confident mathematicians who enjoy their subject.
• Knowledgeable students who can calculate quickly and efficiently.
• Pupils who can orally explain their thoughts using the correct vocabulary.
• Learners who use and apply knowledge secured in their long term memory.
• Pupils to recognise the importance of Maths in their day to day lives.

The national curriculum for mathematics aims to ensure that all pupils:

 become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.

 reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language

 can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.

Implementation

At St Charles’, we use the White Rose Maths scheme as a basis for our maths teaching, supplementing the scheme with additional lessons to address any gaps in the children’s understanding. This ensures that our children have access to a broad and balanced maths curriculum and also have the opportunity to recognise links between the different areas within the maths curriculum. Alongside daily maths lessons an additional 15 minutes each day is spent on arithmetic practice through Fluent in Five, which is designed to develop and maintain fluency in both written and mental calculations. In Key Stage 2 children are also provided with the opportunity to practise their reasoning skills through Rapid Reasoning.

Mathematical vocabulary is an essential part of each lesson and the children need to understand this within the area they are studying and be able to make rich connections across other areas within this subject. Maths lessons at St Charles’ provide children with the opportunity to acquire new knowledge and understanding, deepen their mathematical understanding, reason through their ideas, use their mathematical language to explore a line of enquiry and problem solve. We hope to build problem-solvers of the future and build resilience in our children; essential skills they can use in all aspects of their learning.

All children are catered for within the maths lessons, ensuring that the teacher offers the necessary support and challenge for each individual to make progress. We ensure that maths is taught in creative and engaging lessons using a wide array of maths manipulatives to aid and support our children in their learning. ICT is used across each year group to deliver the maths curriculum and to offer our pupils a range of exciting activities to challenge and inspire.

We aim to encourage the deepest of learning for our children so that their knowledge can be transferred and applied in many contexts including other subjects e.g. science and DT and their everyday lives. Maths is widely promoted across the school and our classrooms have working walls that the children can utilise to support their learning.

Our Maths Curriculum Map shows the skills that are taught within each year group and how these skills develop year on year to ensure that attainment targets are securely met by the end of each key stage.

Our Maths Progression of Disciplinary Knowledge and Vocabulary shows the skills that are taught within each year group and how these skills develop year on year to ensure that attainment targets are securely met by the end of each key stage.

The Maths Medium Term Curriculum Map shows clear progression in line with age related expectations. Teachers and governors are kept regularly informed of developments in our frequently reviewed curriculum. Teachers and teaching assistants are supported and aided in their roles, ensuring confidence in the skills and facts they are required to teach.

Schools in England are required to administer an online multiplication tables check (MTC) to year 4 pupils. The purpose of the MTC is to determine whether pupils can recall their times tables fluently, which is essential for future success in mathematics. This help us to identify pupils who have not yet mastered their times tables, so that additional support can be provided. To support the children with their multiplication practice we use ‘Times Table Rockstars’ as an online and fun learning platform. Every class has a 30 minute slot in the media zone each week to access Times Table Rockstars.

Impact

By the end of KS2 we aim for children to be fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics with a conceptual
understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.
They should have the skills to solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of situations with increasing
sophistication, including in unfamiliar contexts and to model real-life scenarios. Children will be able to reason
mathematically by following a line of enquiry and develop and present a justification, argument or proof using
mathematical language.

We want children to leave St’ Charles Catholic Primary School as confident, capable mathematicians and with a positive attitude towards maths.

MATHS Curriculum

Maths National Curriculum

Help with Learning Times Tables

Third Space Learning Times Tables Challenge

Times Tables Pack Parent Guide

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Ultimate-Times-Tables-Tests-Year-2

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Ultimate-Times-Tables-Tests-Year-4

Ultimate-Times-Tables-Tests-Year-5

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