Mathematics

Intent

At St John’s, we adopt a mastery approach to mathematics where all children are enabled to flourish at a level which suits their individual needs. Pupils will develop a love and enjoyment of mathematics while learning to become independent problem solvers with a ‘can-do’ attitude. Children at St John’s will become confident mathematicians through practical experience and challenge that allows them to think mathematically to solve problems. This will allow children to develop a deep conceptual understanding that they can apply to a range of situations.

In line with the National Curriculum Objectives for Mathematics, our intent is 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 non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.

Implementation 

At St John's, children study mathematics daily within their distinct year groups, following the White Rose Maths Scheme of Learning. WRM is a blocked scheme, which allows for depth and breadth of learning within each strand of mathematics. Learning is broken down into small steps, allowing children to achieve and experience success in every lesson. Pupils deepen their understanding through their use of mathematical language, talking through what they are doing to scaffold their thinking. Children are given opportunities to work practically with concrete resources and use pictorial representations in lessons to build their development of conceptual understanding and make connections to mathematical symbols.

Fluency, Reasoning and Problem Solving: Every learning session includes the opportunity to develop fluency skills, construct chains of reasoning using relevant knowledge alongside relevant terminology and solve increasingly complex problems in a systematic and coherent way.

Mathematical Vocabulary: Sessions include explicit reference to vital mathematical vocabulary and the use of stem sentences to support and encourage all children to communicate their ideas with mathematical precision and clarity.

Fluent Recall: Every lesson begins with ‘Flashback 4’ which allows children to recall their learning from the previous year, unit and lesson. Furthermore, we are committed to ensuring that pupils secure their knowledge of Times Tables and Related Divisional Facts by the end of Year 4. Our pupils engage in regular low stakes testing through Times Tables Rock Stars to practice fluent recall and this forms part of their daily homework. In EYFS and KS1, children have access to NumBots which allows them to practice fluent recall of number facts and this forms part of their daily homework.

EYFS

At St John's we understand the importance of early experiences of maths, and have committed to the Early Adopter Framework within our Early Years setting. This approach places a significant emphasis on developing a strong grounding in number – understanding that this is a necessary building block for children to excel in the subject.

Impact

At St John's, we believe the impact of our curriculum will enable pupils to move through the programmes of study at broadly the same pace. We believe that our children will be confident in each yearly objective and develop their ability to use this knowledge to develop a greater depth of understanding to solve varied fluency problems as well as problem solving and reasoning questions.

Decisions about when to progress are always be based on the security of pupils’ understanding and their readiness to progress to the next stage. Pupils who grasp concepts rapidly are challenged through rich and sophisticated problems rather than acceleration through new content. Those who are not sufficiently fluent with earlier material consolidate their understanding, including through additional practice, before moving on.

The impact of mathematics teaching at St John’s is regularly assessed throughout the year via both formative and summative assessment. The impact of our teaching and curriculum is further assessed through close monitoring every term.