Mathematics

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. Central to our approach are the 5 Big Ideas which underpin mastery in mathematics.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Foundational skills in maths are important because they act like the building blocks for all later mathematical thinking, but also for many every-day tasks.

Maths is cumulative: without first understanding number sense, operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division), higher-level ideas become confusing. It is also clear to us at St. John’s that when our pupils have strong foundational skills, they feel more confident in lessons, engage more willingly and experience less ‘maths anxiety’ as they aren’t struggling to catch up on the basics.

We also know that strong foundational maths skills help pupils develop good problem-solving habits, such as pattern-spotting and breaking problems into small steps. In the real world, managing money, understanding time, measuring (cooking, DIY etc) and making sense of data and statistics in the news are all vital skills needed to flourish in society.

Therefore, at St. John’s, we prioritise the teaching of foundational skills in a number of ways. As well as our core White Rose curriculum, we use Mastering Number in EYFS and KS1, Numbots in EYFS, KS1 and as an intervention in KS2 and TT Rockstars in KS2.

White Rose maths

White Rose Maths is deliberately built to secure foundational skills before pupils move on — it’s all about depth, not rush.

1. Concrete → Pictorial → Abstract (CPA)

Foundational understanding starts hands-on.

• Concrete: pupils use physical manipulatives (counters, cubes, tens frames, base-10)
• Pictorial: they then see ideas represented visually (bar models, part-whole diagrams)
• Abstract: only once secure do they move to numbers and symbols

This ensures pupils understand what numbers mean, not just how to operate on them.

2. Small, Carefully Sequenced Steps

White Rose breaks learning into very small steps, so nothing is skipped.

• Each lesson builds on one clear idea
• Gaps are less likely because teachers can spot misconceptions early
• Pupils develop confidence before complexity is added

This is especially powerful for:

• Early number sense
• Place value
• Basic operations

3. Strong Emphasis on Number Sense

Foundational maths = fluency with number.

White Rose prioritises:

• Counting forwards and backwards

• Understanding quantity and magnitude

• Part–whole relationships

• Bonds (to 5, 10, 20, 100)

• Comparing, ordering and estimating

These skills underpin all later maths.

4. Variation (not repetition)

Instead of lots of the same question, pupils see carefully varied examples.

• Same concept, different representations
• Focus on spotting patterns and structures
• Helps pupils generalise rather than memorise

This strengthens conceptual fluency, not just procedural speed.

5. Mathematical Language & Talk

Foundational understanding is reinforced through precise vocabulary.

• Sentence stems (“I know this because…”, “The same as…”, “The difference is…”)
• Whole-class discussion
• Explicit modelling of correct mathematical language

This supports:

• Reasoning
• Explanation
• Inclusion of pupils with weaker literacy or confidence

6. Built-in Fluency & Retrieval

White Rose revisits learning systematically.

• Daily fluency practice
• Regular review of prior learning
• Links between new and previous concepts

This repetition is purposeful, helping knowledge stick.

7. Early Identification of Misconceptions

Because learning is slow-paced and structured:

• Teachers can quickly see where understanding breaks down
• Misconceptions are addressed immediately
• Pupils don’t build new learning on shaky foundations

8. Inclusive by Design

White Rose supports all learners to access foundational maths:

• Visual representations support SEND pupils
• Structured scaffolding supports less-confident learners
• Depth challenges stretch pupils without racing ahead

Mastering Number

The programme is designed to ensure all pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 develop deep, secure, and flexible understanding of number. Research from NCETM shows that early number sense underpins later success across the whole maths curriculum.

Numbots

This programme is designed specifically to build strong, secure foundational maths skills for early learners (EYFS and KS1). It does this through a combination of carefully structured progression, engaging gameplay, and evidence‑based pedagogy. Following a sequential, cumulative path, each stage introduces one small new idea at a time, so pupils build understanding gradually and securely, emphasising mastery, as pupils can’t move on until they’ve shown consistent success. This prevents gaps from forming in core number knowledge. Through the use of a variety of visual models, pupils transition from concrete → pictorial → abstract, matching the mastery approach. These help children understand why a number fact works, not just memorise it. We use the Numbots story mode for maths home learning, and pupils work through the challenge mode in school.

TT Rockstars

TTRS is designed as a carefully sequenced programme of daily multiplication practice. It strengthens core number facts by providing repeated, targeted exposure to times tables, which improves fluency and speed. Rapid recall of these facts reduces cognitive load during more complex maths tasks, a concept strongly linked to the mastery approach in mathematics pedagogy.

White Rose Maths Hub - additional home learning resources from the scheme we use in school

Topmarks – lots of free maths games for all ages

Maths Frame – some highly engaging maths games which cover all areas of maths

We subscribe as a school to the following websites which can help your child with their maths learning. Your children will have been sent home with their log-in details.

https://ttrockstars.com/ 

Times Tables Rock Stars is a maths programme that takes all the worry out of learning times tables and has a proven track record of boosting children’s fluency and recall in multiplication and division.

https://numbots.com/ 

NumBots is all about every child achieving the “triple win” of understanding, recall and fluency in mental addition and subtraction, so that they move from counting to calculating.