St Ann's CofE Primary School

Intent

Learning mathematics at primary school has its own intrinsic value and our curriculum ensures that all students will develop an enjoyment of mathematics and an appreciation and respect of its relevance and importance today. By the end of primary school, students will become confidently fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, will reason mathematically, and will apply their mathematics to persevere with solving challenging problems. Students wil develop the fundamental mathematical knowledge and skills required in everyday life. Importantly, they will develop the ability to think mathematically, which will empower them to be successful, giving them hope to navigate the challenges of their education and life after school in our fast-changing world.

Implementation

We use the White Rose Maths scheme to support our planning and teaching of Maths throughout school. The scheme's fundamental belief is that 'everyone can do Maths', and it is designed to teach to the 'mastery' of concepts so pupils become confident and resilient mathematicians. It ensures that all children experience challenge and success in mathematics by developing a growth mindset. While the White Rose is the 'spine' of the Maths curriculum, teachers enrich the content with resources from other high quality sources to provide pupils with enriched, well rounded and high quality Maths lessons.

Across Reception, KS1 and KS2 a Maths lesson is taught every day. In Years 2-6 pupils have five minutes of daily arithmetic at the start of the day, giving them opportunities to practice their fluency and confidence with the main four operations. 

The 'CPA' approach is a key element of how Maths is taught, and it is integral how children develop mastery of concepts in Mathematics. With the 'CPA' approach pupils physically represent mathematically concepts first. They then use pictures to demonstrate and visualise abstract ideas before finally using numbers and symbols to explain these concepts. By moving through the stages of 'CPA' pupils will have gained an understanding of how the abstract concepts 'look' and what they represent, meaning they can then apply this knowledge with confidence across a range of different Mathematical problems. The 'CPA' approach provides pupils with opportunities to explore new learning, deepen understanding and cement concepts to provide 'mastery'. This is used in all year groups throughout the school.

Concrete – Pupils have the opportunity to use concrete objects and manipulatives to help them understand and explain what they are doing.
Pictorial – Pupils build on this concrete approach by using pictorial representations. These representations can then be used to reason and problem solve.
Abstract – With the foundations firmly laid, pupils are be able to move to an abstract approach using numbers and key concepts with confidence.
 

Fluency, reasoning and problem solving are key elements found in every Maths lesson. The teaching of these supports and challenges pupils in their mastering of concepts and becoming efficient Mathematicians.

Fluency – Pupils should be able to recall and apply mathematical knowledge rapidly and accurately.  Pupils should be able to move confidently between contexts and representations, recognise relationships and make connections in mathematics. This will help pupils develop a deep conceptual understanding.
Reasoning – Reasoning is pupils being able to explain their Mathematical learning, how they calculated an answer and how they know it is right. The teaching, understanding and reinforcement of key Mathematical vocabulary is necessary for this.
Problem Solving – Problem solving is when pupils identify, understand and apply relevant mathematical principles and make connections between different ideas. Pupils require opportunities to demonstrate their understanding of concepts through different contexts to provide them with a richer and deeper learning experience. Pupils will combine different concepts to solve more complex problems and apply knowledge to real life situations.