Maths

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 (DFE-00180-2013)  

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 (DFE-00180-2013)  

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.  

Mathematics is vital for the life opportunities of our children. Our aim here at St John’s is for all children to think mathematically, enabling them to reason and solve problems in a range of contexts. Our intent at St John the Evangelist Primary School is that children “can do” maths and we want every child to experience a sense of awe and wonder as they solve a problem for the first time, discover different solutions and make links between different concepts. This is enhanced by providing pupils with a deep understanding of the subject through a concrete, pictorial and abstract approach.  

At St John’s, we developed a whole-school curriculum map using White Rose Maths Hub (WRMH), the children now spend a significant length of time on each unit so that they are secure using and applying their new skills before moving on to tackle new concepts. With the exception of Year 1 and Year 6, all year groups will be teaching the same units at similar times. 

Progression within in unit between year groups can be found at the following link: 

Mixed Age | Archimedes NE Maths Hub (carmelarchimedesmathshub.org.uk) 

Class Structure - To best meet the requirements of the Maths National Curriculum, we have carefully considered how we group the children within a base. Every base has mixed age classes. From these classes, we have created maths groups to enable as many children as possible to access the objectives for their year group. 

Daily Maths Lessons - Maths is planned and delivered on a daily basis. Four lessons a week follow the WRMH overview. One lesson a week will be used by the teacher to improve maths skills through a range of activities: Big maths, gap fill, and/or develop mathematical thinking through investigations. In addition, fluency skills will be timetabled regularly throughout the week. 

Units – each unit will have a learning journey and start by completing a cold task focusing on skills from the previous year that the children have been exposed to, allowing teachers to have an idea of each child’s starting point. Each learning journey follows small steps as a spine which has been taken from White Rose.  

Small Steps - Each small step may require several lessons to allow the children to visit fluency, problem solving and reasoning within its context.  By following the WRMH small steps, all children will have the opportunity to regularly access fluency, problem solving and reasoning within each topic.  

MASTERING NUMBER 

Children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 following Mastering Number. This program allows our pupils to develop and demonstrate good number sense, develop a secure understanding of how to build firm mathematical foundations and the teaching strategies are focused on developing fluency in calculation and number sense for all our children. 

NUMBOTS/TT ROCKSTARS/ ARITHMAGICIANS 

To help the children develop their fluency in arithmetic, we use the websites above to help develop our children with fundamental skills that will help them in them future life. The children are rewarded weekly during service with certificates given out and we are lucky to have a special guest (‘Baz’ from TT Rockstars) visit to give out the awards.  

A mathematical concept or skill has been mastered when a child can show it in multiple ways, using the mathematical language to explain their ideas, and can independently apply the concept to new problems in unfamiliar situations and this is the goal for our children. 

At the end of KS1 and KS2 students will be in line with national (expected and greater depth) with progress and attainment to be at least good across KS1 and KS2. 

Books show progress for each child over time and in lessons by: having work that is pitched at the right level, it gets increasingly challenging, there is verbal or written feedback recorded to address misconceptions. 

Pupils will leave us prepared for the next stage in their lives with:  

• Quick recall of facts and procedures 
• The flexibility and fluidity to move between different contexts and representations of mathematics 
• The ability to recognise relationships and make connections in mathematics 
• Confidence and belief that they can achieve 
• The knowledge that maths underpins most of our daily lives 
• Skills and concepts that have been mastered.

 Whole School Maths Overview