Theological Underpinning

‘Great is the mystery of faith’. Sometimes mathematics appears to be a series of difficult problems and puzzles. With time, patience, faith and skill we can come to see that the universe is beautifully created, that there is design and order in what originally seemed chaotic. Mathematics shows us that seemingly disconnected things are in fact deeply connected, individual parts of God’s one creation. The pattern of God’s love is seen in the way balance is restored and difficulty reconciled, just as in Mathematics.

NC Programme of Study Aims

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 nonroutine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions. 

Mathematics is an interconnected subject in which pupils need to be able to move fluently between representations of mathematical ideas. The programmes of study are, by necessity, organised into apparently distinct domains, but pupils should make rich connections across mathematical ideas to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competence in solving increasingly sophisticated problems. They should also apply their mathematical knowledge to science and other subjects. 

The expectation is that the majority of pupils will move through the programmes of study at broadly the same pace. However, decisions about when to progress should always be based on the security of pupils’ understanding and their readiness to progress to the next stage. Pupils who grasp concepts rapidly should be challenged through being offered rich and sophisticated problems before any acceleration through new content. Those who are not sufficiently fluent with earlier material should consolidate their understanding, including through additional practice, before moving on. 

Curriculum

At All Saints’ standards in Mathematics are consistently high and ensure children leave All Saints’ with the necessary Mathematical skills to tackle Secondary Mathematics as well as real life situations. All Saints’ are using a Mastery Approach to teach Mathematics.

At All Saints’ we recognise that Mathematics is important to our everyday lives. Mathematics helps children to make sense of the world around them through developing their ability to calculate and to reason. It enables children to understand and appreciate relationships and patterns in terms of both number and space. It gives children the tools they require to be able to understand and solve problems. As part of their learning journey the children learn to appreciate the contributions made by many cultures to the development of Mathematics.

We ensure Mathematics lessons are fun, stimulating and enjoyable. The curriculum the children are taught follows the Early Years Foundation Stage (in Nursery and Reception) and the New National Curriculum (from Year 1 to Year 6). As a focus in the New National Curriculum is on the use of concrete materials these resources are used in lessons examples of these resources are: place value counters, unifix and Numicon.

The children are taught a variety of calculation methods. As a school we use the White Rose, ‘Calculation Policy’ please see attached. This policy explains how the children are taught the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division). The policy provides models of how children are taught using CPA (concrete, pictorial and abstract). The methods taught will vary depending on the child’s age and ability. At All Saints’ we regularly teach arithmetic and mental mathematics skills which underpin the children’s understanding in this subject.

At All Saints’ we are teaching elements of Mastery in whole class teaching and children are taught using mixed ability pairing. Teachers are using Mastery materials and reasoning routes. The aim is for children in a single cohort to move in terms of their Mathematical understanding at a similar pace. Children are taught to apply their learning in a variety of contexts for example when learning to add children will also learn to add using measures (e.g. adding lengths together) and money furthermore they will complete reasoning tasks and solve problems using addition.

More able pupils receive a range of activities to further embed deeper understanding as well as being set daily challenges within lessons, when appropriate. The school currently also takes part in the Primary Maths Challenge (Year 6), Wandsworth Game 24 Tournament in Key Stage One and Key Stage Two, Cool to be Curious (Year 5) and More Able Mathematics days (when available). Where opportunities arise for advanced Mathematics Lessons for more able pupils, pupils from the school will participate (currently at St Paul’s).