“ I don’t like Maths, I love it” 

Year 4 pupil from St. James’s Catholic Primary School

Our Approach

Mathematics helps children to make sense of the world around them through developing their ability to calculate, to reason and to solve problems. It enables children to understand and appreciate relationships and pattern in both number and space in their everyday lives.

The mathematics teaching at St James’s School is geared towards enabling each pupil to develop within their capabilities; not only the mathematics skills and understanding required for later life, but also an enthusiasm and fascination about Maths itself.

Children spend time in lessons working independently or with partners to support articulation of their ideas before showing deep understanding on independent work. Children are encouraged to speak in full sentences, using ‘Stem sentences’ to support their mathematical language and thinking. Questions are investigated and answered using multiple strategies with the teacher converging ideas to teach the most efficient method.

The concrete-pictorial-abstract (CPA) approach is used as a pedagogical approach throughout to support the deep understanding of concepts. We have mapped out the progression in the use of manipulatives (concrete resources), which are accessible to children each year to support this approach.

All year groups take part in National Maths events such as ‘Number day’.

Year 5 and Year 6 children take part in the Primary Maths Challenge, which was created by the Mathematical Association as a fun and exciting challenge for children to engage in. This year, teams from Year 5 and 6 have competed against local schools in a ‘Maths Wizard’ competitions, working together to solve fun problems.

Furthermore, every child has a Times tables Rockstar login. They practice their times tables through competing against peers and challenging teachers to become “Rock Legends”.

KIRFS

KIRFs are the 'Key Instant Recall Facts' that children need to secure during their primary years. They include facts such as number bonds and times tables. They are particularly useful when calculating, adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing but also underpin many other areas of mathematics.

Year groups will set a new KIRF each half term with the expectation that this is practised at home, in addition to at school, to ensure children have a deep, flexible understanding of number which they can apply to more complex mathematics.

Curriculum 

Progression of Manipulatives

Children from Year 2 to Year 6 keep a Maths Journal. Within the journal, they can reflect on their learning, be creative in the strategies they use to respond to problems and develop their mathematical reasoning at an even deeper level.   

How is Maths Assessed?

Concept Cards

Each child has a ‘Concept Card’ in the front of their Maths Book. The key concepts covered relate exactly to our Progression of Knowledge and Skills documents for each year group. When a Concept is not achieved, the teacher will highlight the concept. Review tasks and teacher support are put in place to address any concepts that have not been achieved.

Progression of Skills and Knowledge

We use the White Rose Scheme of learning to ensure a consistent approach to delivering the National Curriculum Objectives. Our Progression of Skills and Knowledge documents inform our planning. The National Curriculum objectives are listed in each term and broken down into progressive steps. The objectives are mapped out for progression across the year, following the White Rose Scheme. In Maths lessons, these objectives are broken down further into microscopic steps, reflecting our mastery approach. We ensure that all of our children are secure on a step before moving onto another step.

Enrichment in Maths

► At St. James’s we continuously strive to enhance the children’s enthusiasm and passion for Maths by exploring a range of enrichment opportunities on offer.

All year groups have taken part in ‘Maths Week England’ in November. Year 5 and Year 6 children entered the Primary Maths Challenge, which was created by the Mathematical Association as a fun and exciting challenge for the children to engage in. Teams from Year 2, 5 and 6 have competed against local schools in a ‘Maths Wizard’ competitions, working together to solve fun problems.

Furthermore, every child has a Times tables Rockstar login. They practice their times tables through competing against peers and challenging teachers to become “Rock Legends”.

Calculations At St. James’s

With the constant changes to the curriculum, it has meant that many parents have found it difficult to keep up with the strategies used for calculation in their children’s year groups.

► At St. James’s, we have developed a calculations overview, which you can find in our Maths policy on the website.

To further assist parents with their understanding of calculation strategies, we have put together some short video clips (thanks to our volunteers!) to support the understanding of the formal methods used for the four operations - addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. They are available to watch and will be added to over the course of the year. The children working with a teacher show us how to proceed through the strategies for the four operations using the appropriate mathematical language. We hope you find them useful in supporting your children’s Maths learning.