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Maths

 

Hello, my name is Mrs Belford and I am the Maths lead at St Peter’s. Maths was my favourite subject when I was at school. I loved finding all the different possibilities and experimenting with number. I really love how all areas of Maths link together, like one great big jigsaw. No matter how difficult something may appear there is always a solution, so remember to never give up!

Maths is all around us in ways we don’t stop to think about. Just take a normal morning. You need to be able to tell the time to set an alarm and wake up. Then you need to be able to calculate time duration so you know what time to set your morning alarm so you have enough time to do everything you need to do before leaving the house. You need to understand number to tell the time, ratio to work our how much milk to put with your cornflakes, prepositions to understand mum and dads instructions in getting dresses, position and direction for finding your way to school and all this is before you have left the house! Maths is everywhere, from cooking, to planning days out,  playing your favourite games and knowing how long you have left before your favourite television show comes on. Maths is the foundation for everything in life and during your time at St Peter’s the whole St Peter’s family will do everything we possibly can to help you understand and enjoy maths making sure you have the secure foundations to build upon through life.

Resources to support your children at home

Below is a link to a fantastic resource to support learning at home, it is White Roses 1-minute maths. Click on the link for more information.

  • https://whiterosemaths.com/1-minute-maths

At the bottom of the page you will find a link to our calculation policy which will allow you to see how the four operations are taught at St Peter’s. Please use this when helping your children at home and, as always, any questions please speak to a member of staff.

Introduction to Maths at St Peter’s 

At St Peter’s we value every individual and know that everyone has different starting points when it comes to Maths. With this in mind we have a fully inclusive curriculum where all children can  engage, thrive and flourish. We follow a mastery maths curriculum at St Peter’s. We spend time a lot of time making sure the children can deepen their understanding and make connections within all areas of Maths. We use a variety of approaches to help all the children learn including using concrete, pictorial and abstract approach all the way to year six, enabling all children to have a variety of methods at their fingertips.

Our Vision

At St Peter’s Maths is a fundamental lifelong skill that everyone needs to live a day to day life. Maths is one of the first skills we use when we wake up, looking to see what the time is and working out the ratio of milk to our cereal. Without realising it, maths forms the basis of nearly every decision we make and we want all of our children to leave school with the firm foundations in maths and a can do attitude that nothing is unachievable. We believe in making maths fun and showing children the links to the wider world. We follow a mastery maths curriculum so that all children can achieve a positive working knowledge of maths in every aspect. We strongly believe that children need providing with a deep understanding of the subject through a concrete, pictorial and abstract approach. This ensures pupils fully understand what they are learning.

Maths provides children with powerful ways to describe and investigate an ever-changing world. We want all children to experience a sense of awe and wonder as they solve a problem for the first time and that keep that excitement, determination and sense of achievement as they progress with their journey in maths for their entire lives.

At St Peter’s Catholic Academy, we aim that all pupils:

Become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics so that they develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.

Can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of problems with increasing sophistication, including in unfamiliar contexts and to model real-life scenarios.

Can reason mathematically by following a line of inquiry and develop and present a justification, argument or proof using mathematical language.

We aim to develop the children’s mindsets to help them develop a Growth Mindset and a ‘We Can’ attitude to Mathematics. We believe that through quality first teaching and intelligent practice, children learning together and immediate intervention that all children have the potential to ‘go deeper’ and broaden their understanding of mathematical concepts.

How do we teach Maths:

In EYFS Maths is taught in a variety of ways. All children have a small group input and 1:1 follow up input during the week on a new skills in Maths. Then these skills are embedded into the continuous provision both indoors and outdoors for the children to practice and consolidate. On top of this children in reception have a ‘Mastering Number’ session every day where there is a large focus on number and number relationships.

In Key Stage One and Two children have an hours Maths lesson every day. Within this lesson we have a snappy recap and revise session at the beginning of the lesson. We do this to ensure that children continue to learn more and remember more. Helping them to build their foundations and link previous and prior learning together. During Maths lessons we are fully inclusive and all children work together on new skills and concepts. We use a variety of resources and support to enable all children to participate and learn. At St Peter’s we follow a blocked approach for Maths giving the children time to deepen and consolidate their learning. Please follow the link to see the whole school curriculum map for Maths. 

In addition to our daily Maths lesson, all classes in Key Stage Two complete a daily Fluent in 5 activity. In Key Stage One they continue the mastering number programme that they began in Reception. This is a short and snappy lesson after lunch in all classes with a key focus on mental and written calculations. Helping children to improve their mathematical fluency. This is something as parents you can help your children with at home. You can ask them some simple calculations at home and make it into a game. The more you can do to help children secure their number bonds, number relationships and timetables knowledge the easier the children will then find it to join ideas together in Maths and progress.

 

        

Strategy for implementation:

The National Curriculum gives a clear developmental program for the teaching of Maths. We started working with our local Mastery Maths hub in December 2019 and continue working with them this year on the sustaining mastery. At St Peter’s we make sure we teach children the fundamental skills they need to have secure foundations in maths to access and understand the every changing world around them. We encourage children to explain  their ideas with reasons and evidence  and ask questions to check their own understanding. Through consistent high quality Maths mastery teaching, pupils are taught to develop their stamina and skills within all areas of maths so they can combine their fluency, problem solving and reasoning skills together.

At St Peter’s we have high expectations for every child, whatever their background, ability or circumstances. We know that children learn best when they are happy, healthy, safe and encouraged. Our Maths curriculum includes a wide range of opportunities and resources, We truly value what each individual child brings to our inclusive school community and follow and approach which makes Maths accessible and enjoyable to all.

The different needs of our children are carefully considered when designing our curriculum. We want all children to reach their full potential. Where necessary, teachers identify children that are not making progress and take steps to improve their progress and attainment. Where required, referrals will be made to the school SENCO in line with the SEND policy.

Features of mastery teaching throughout the school.

‘Quality first’ teaching; tailored to meet the needs of the learners in each class, and immediate intervention to address gaps in learning where necessary,

Resilient learners with Growth Mindsets and a ‘We Can’ attitude to Mathematics, whatever their previous level of attainment

Teachers using high-quality questioning to explore children’s understanding and develop it further

Teachers making use of misconceptions to further understanding of key concepts

Teachers using a range of methods to explore key Mathematical concepts which appeal to pupils’ different styles of learning, employing concrete/pictorial/abstract representations of Mathematical concepts

Learners being given the opportunity, through careful planning, to ‘go deeper’ in mathematical concepts

Pupils learning together

Development of fluency, reasoning and solving.

Maths throughout the school

We are very proud of our Maths working wall in our main corridor, showing our children’s journey from EYFS to Year Six.

We promote interactive and inclusive maths displays in all of our classrooms and around school, showing the integral part maths plays in day to day life. We also promote the use of physical resources throughout school and have learning packs available for all children, all of the time.

 

 

 

     

Additional Support

Please use the web links below to help support your children at home. If you find any good websites that you would like to recommend, please let us know and we will add them for all parents.

  • Primary Games You’ll find all sorts of maths content here, all presented as engaging games and challenges.
  • Maths Zone Another collection of games and activities across the full range of curriculum content, mostly appropriate to our KS2 pupils.
  • Topmarks Lots of fun games to play with children of all ages!

Internet-based Activities relating to Number and Place Value

Internet-based Games relating to Times Tables Practice

Other useful websites

  1. Mastery Maths Policy Oct 23 doc
  2. Whole school maths progression document 2023-24 docx
  3. Maths Whole School Overview 2023 - 2024 docx
  4. Whole-School-Maths-Vocabulary docx
  5. Calculation Policy using CPA inc fractions docx