Maths

Maths

At St Joseph’s Primary School, we have adopted a ‘mastery’ approach to teaching and learning in Mathematics.

Our vision is to inspire an enjoyment for Maths through positive attitudes, curiosity and discovery. Children can experience a sense of awe and wonder as they problem solve for the first time, discover different solutions and make links between different areas of Mathematics. At the heart of our curriculum is a focus on developing and practising mental calculation skills that ensure children can access all aspects of Maths. We follow the teaching sequence outlined by the White Rose Maths Hub schemes of learning. This ensures that a coherent, consistent approach is adopted in all year groups. It provides our pupils with a deep understanding of the subject through a concrete, pictorial and abstract approach and this ensures that our pupils fully understand what they are learning. Our pupils will thrive upon conquering problem-solving challenges and they will not be afraid to make mistakes but instead view these as valuable learning opportunities. We compliment this with other high-quality resources, especially arithmetic focused, that are adapted to the needs of our children to ensure progression.  

The National Curriculum for Primary Mathematics has three main aims which are at the heart of how the children learn Mathematics in our school. These are:

• Fluency –The children will have varied and frequent practise with increasingly complex problems over time, so that they can develop understanding and the ability to recall and apply their mathematics rapidly and accurately.
• Reasoning – The children will follow a line of enquiry, investigating relationships and generalisations, developing an argument and justification and proof using mathematical language.
• Problem Solving – The children can apply their mathematics to a variety of problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.

What our children say about mathematics at St Joseph’s:

Early Years and Key Stage One children say…

'I love counting and shapes.' - Bella

'Maths is good because if you don't know how to count you won't know about counting money when you're older.' - Oliver

'Maths is full of games and problem solving!' - Grace

‘We do maths at the start of every day!' - Emily

'I like doing the problem solving.' – Tilly

'I like using cubes to help me work things out.' – Aoife

'I like adding on a number line.' - Ronnie

Key Stage Two children say…

‘We don't do just do maths sitting down we go outside and do fun, active maths.’ - Eden

‘I like maths when it is challenging because it makes your learning more fun.’ - Paddy

‘I like Target Maths because it has different sections for different abilities.’ - Harvey

‘I like maths because you learn new things and it is fun.’ - Lola

'Maths is really fun and I especially love doing investigations and challenges, which makes me use my brain.' – Freddie

'I didn't used to enjoy Maths, but I do now. During Year 6, I have really learnt my times tables and I can now do a lot more maths as they help me everything and I realise how important knowing my times tables is.' - Jadeine

Times Tables Rock Stars

At St Joseph’s we subscribe to Times Table Rock Stars. This is a system that the children use to practise the instant recall of their multiplication and division facts. Please read the documents below for futher information.