Mathematics is a creative and highly interconnected subject 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 all forms of employment. A high-quality education in maths 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. Through our maths curriculum, we ensure that all pupils belong and see themselves as capable and confident mathematicians. Our policy and planning for maths is based on the statutory expectations of the EYFS (2021) and National Curriculum (2014).

Our purpose is to develop lively, enquiring minds, enabling pupils to grow into self-motivated, confident and capable learners who can solve mathematical problems that will become an integral part of their future. We empower pupils by using a range of high-quality resources to support learning and progression, including the White Rose Maths scheme and NCETM materials.  We set maths in exciting contexts using a variety of practical, concrete resources and plan lessons to include variation, a range of representations and structures, mathematical thinking and fluency development, ensuring that all learners can access learning.  We are part of the Maths Hub Teacher Research Group in our local area and work with different schools to develop our maths teaching.

We follow the key principles of a mastery approach to teaching which include the following ideas: lessons are taught through whole class teaching to enable all children to coherently understand mathematical concepts; automaticity is a priority for key number facts; time is spent on deepening knowledge of key mathematical ideas before moving on; children are prevented from falling behind due to quick and systematic intervention; precise mathematical language is modelled and used in stem sentences alongside carefully chosen concrete, pictorial and abstract representations and models.

Our lessons are structured to start with a retrieval warm up, guided learning through a ‘my turn your turn’ teaching style and independent practice through star challenges.

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 have conceptual understanding and are able to recall and apply their knowledge rapidly and accurately to problems 

• 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.

• are set appropriate learning challenges 

• are taught well and be given the opportunity to learn in ways that maximise the chances of success. 

• have adults working with them to tackle the specific barriers to progress they face.