Maths Curriculum

Intent Statement 

We value a maths curriculum that is ambitious and engaging. All children to have access to this curriculum and we work hard to ensure that each child makes progress in lessons. Our curriculum is carefully sequenced and we aim to support our children to gain a deep understanding of key concepts. This then allows them to acquire maths skills that can be recalled quickly and transferred and applied in different contexts. Maths is the foundation for understanding the world and we want our children to know the purpose behind their learning and to apply their knowledge to their everyday lives. Most importantly perhaps, we want to give children a chance to believe in themselves as mathematicians and develop the power of resilience and perseverance when faced with mathematical challenges both in school and in everyday life.

Implement Statement

Here at St Joseph and St Teresa, we follow the White Rose planning resources in order to ensure that our children have full coverage of the Maths National Curriculum. To learn mathematics effectively, some things have to be learned before others, e.g. place value needs to be understood before working with addition and subtraction, addition needs to be learnt before looking at multiplication (as a model of repeated addition). Therefore, you will see this emphasis on number skills first, carefully ordered, throughout our primary curriculum.

Our aim is to ensure that the three core areas of the national curriculum are covered in all our lessons: fluency, reasoning and problem solving. We offer the children the opportunity to have varied and frequent practice of their maths skills with the focus on their ability to recall and apply their knowledge rapidly and accurately. Reasoning is a key area in all our lessons as our children need to be able to describe, explain, convince, justify and prove to be successful in this subject. Alongside this, we also have specific problem solving lessons where not only are a range of problems solved but key problem solving skills (such as reasoning logically, working systematically) are taught.

We also put a big focus on times tables. The basis of this is the understanding of number bonds moving on to the teaching of times tables. Daily, from Years 3 to 6, children take part in short times tables sessions based on the Boolean approach. Knowing times tables (and their associated division facts) supports mathematical learning and understanding and those children who have a strong grasp of them tend to be more self-assured when learning new concepts.

In the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, we use the Mastering Number programme which we introduced in September 2024. Ten to fifteen minute daily sessions are delivered to EYFS, Year 1 and Year 2 in single year groups. The programme aims to develop a solid number sense, including fluency and flexibility with number facts which will have a lasting impact of the future learning of all children. The aim over time is that children will leave KS1 with fluency in calculation and a confidence and flexibility with number. 

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.  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 art 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 and provide extra challenge. We also set maths homework weekly to consolidate learning that has taken place in school.

Mathematical vocabulary is an essential part of each lesson and we place great emphasis on mathematical language and questioning so pupils can discuss the mathematics they are doing, and so support them to take ideas further. Each lesson provides children with the opportunity to reason through their ideas, use their mathematical language to explore a line of enquiry and problem solve routine and non-routine problems. Our use of questioning allows children to demonstrate what they know and challenges them at every step.

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.

Structure of a Maths Lesson

The teachers have a flexible approach to the structure of their lesson so that they can reach the needs of an ambitious maths curriculum.

However all maths lessons must have the following key elements:

• skills practice
• modelling by the teacher
• independent activity
• plenary/mini review

All lessons will cater for the individual needs of the children and include some element of reasoning and problem solving.

Mathematics Policy

Addition and Subtraction Calculation Policy

Multiplication and Division Calculation Policy

Mathematics Curriculum Map

Please find below the Mathematics Curriculum map which details the topics covered by each class over the course of the year. Please note the separate document for EYFS. 

Mastering Number Yearly Overviews