Curriculum Maths

At St James Catholic Primary School, we recognise how important it is for our children to leave us at the end of their journey in Year 6 as confident mathematicians, who are equipped with the tools and skill-set to thrive in the subject in Year 7 and beyond.

We want to ensure that children understand the importance of mathematics as a subject, and how essential it might prove to be in shaping their future careers. Children will be taught maths in context, showing them how it is used in everyday life, with every job involving an element of maths to it.

We intend to give each child the self-confidence and resilience to reach their full potential by ensuring that they have the tools to calculate fluently, reason logically, problem solve and think in abstract ways.

• Children become confident, competent and independent mathematicians
• Build a deep conceptual understanding of maths and its interrelated content so that children can apply their learning in different situations
• Develop children’s ability to articulate, discuss and explain their thinking using appropriate mathematical vocabulary, to ensure that skills are transferred to their long-term memory over time.
• ‘Mistake friendly’ classrooms where children see mistakes as learning tools. There is an emphasis placed upon developing the power to ‘think’ rather than just ‘do’, and to understand that mistakes in maths are common and vital when learning new skills.
• Instil the mind-set in every child and staff member, as well as parents, that everyone can do maths and that maths is for everyone…EVERYONE CAN! This is our mastery approach to the subject. All children can master maths.
• Children develop into resilient and inquisitive learners, skills needed to become life-long mathematicians

Deliver an inspiring and engaging mathematics curriculum, taught by highly-enthusiastic staff, which sparks curiosity and excitement and which nurtures confidence in maths

In order to improve our mastery approach and further improve the quality and consistency of our maths teaching throughout our school, we have implemented the White Rose approach to maths, which is used in every year group, in line with the National Curriculum set out by the government for Primary Maths.

We recognise the value of the children making a seamless journey through school, and therefore each year group follows a yearly plan where small, cumulative steps all contribute to building a solid foundation of deep mathematical understanding. The children become familiar very early on in school, with our concrete, pictorial and abstract approach to the teaching of maths at St James.

Every lesson or small step is an opportunity for teachers and staff to formatively assess the understanding of each and every child in each year group. This formative assessment then informs planning for future lessons, steps are revisited for a whole class where necessary, interventions can be set up for a small group of children to bridge any gaps in their learning.

In order for the children to move seamlessly on their journey in maths throughout school, teachers and staff are aware of the steps that went before in previous years, and those steps that the children will face in future year, to ensure that everyone is aware of the whole picture for maths in our school.

Staff teaching the children will:

• Set high standards in Mathematics – EVERYONE CAN! Maths is for EVERYONE to master, regardless of attainment levels. Differentiation within lessons will all be based on the same learning objective, with extra support or manipulatives provided when needed for children.
• Develop secure and deep conceptual understanding, by planning for the use of concrete resources, as well as pictorial and abstract representations for each small step.
• Ensure that all children are moving through the maths curriculum at the same pace, aiming to master the learning objectives in a way that is tailored to their individual needs.
• Use regular and ongoing formative assessment to inform teaching, as well as intervention, to support and enable the success of every child.
• Use summative assessments at the end of a block or unit, as well as at the end of each term, to ensure that planning can be adjusted accordingly for whole-class or individual needs.
• Discuss children’s attainment and progress with parents/carers during parents’ evenings, with children’s targets also discussed.
• Discuss mathematical vocabulary at the start of each lesson with the children, specific to that particular maths lesson, to ensure that children understand and can explain different vocabulary and concepts, with misconceptions addressed.

At St James, our goal is very clear in Maths; we want each child in our school to become masters of Maths, by working fluently in the subject at their attainment level, as well as using their skill-sets to reason and become excellent problem-solvers. We believe that every child can achieve in Maths.

We are already seeing a huge improvement in Maths throughout the school since we introduced the White Rose approach. Children are certainly more articulate when explaining their reasoning behind answers given; they are more resilient mathematicians when faced with new problems and concepts; and most importantly, they are enjoying their Maths lessons which is what it is all about.

Please find our Maths Curriculum Map below

• Maths Curriculum Map

Please find the White Rose Progression Map below

• WR Progression Map