St Paul's C.E Primary School
St. Paul's Maths Curriculum 2024-2025
Implementation
White Rose is a supporting resource for teaching maths. It supports children in developing the five big ideas of mastery: coherence, connecting new ideas to known concepts; representation and structure, noticing patterns and making connections; mathematical thinking, working on, thinking and reasoning with a taught idea; fluency, quick and efficient recall of facts and procedures; variation, giving examples that display an idea as well as those that don’t for children to notice, and varying practice questions so that repetition is avoided.
Our teachers explicitly model skills to children through their use of teaching and learning time. They model vocabulary to enrich discussions of mathematical concepts and empower children to reason and problem solve. Children need to know how to explain their methods and understanding; through open questioning from adults, children develop their questioning and reasoning skills.
We follow a concrete, pictorial and abstract (CPA) approach, which enables children to visualise the concept by using concrete apparatus first. These manipulatives are used and available across the school so that children can experience these throughout their learning journey.
At St. Paul’s we want the children to describe themselves as Mathematicians by making comments such as:
- · I demonstrate quick and efficient recall of facts and procedures.
- · I am a Mathematical thinker, who can reason and solve problems.
- · I feel confident using Mathematical vocabulary.
- · I can make connections between my learning and the world around me.
- · I can describe, explain and represent mathematical concepts in a variety of ways.
Intent
The teaching and learning of mathematics is an integral part of every classroom. Through our maths curriculum, we aim to build resilience in our pupils, so that they are able to reason and explain ideas as well as use fluency skills to become confident mathematicians. We want our children to gain understanding and make connections between concepts so that they become successful mathematicians. We believe the best way to achieve this is to have a maths curriculum which allows children to revisit and build on the steps they already have. By revisiting previous learning, we are allowing the children to know more and remember more by transferring knowledge from their short-term memory to their long-term memory.
Parents are aspirational for their children and keen to see them become confident and fluent mathematicians. It is vital that parents recognise the need to study at depth within objectives rather than just moving on to the next year group. Using White Rose as a scheme helps to achieve this within lessons, which offers guidance to teachers and subject leads to plan and deliver lessons at the appropriate pace. It encourages depth and mastery within lessons for all children.
Our curriculum is based around the following knowledge:
Substantive knowledge
- Number facts - Children need to be fluent in number facts such as number bonds, doubles and halves, equivalents, factor pairs, primes, etc. See fluency progression map below.
- Times tables - Children need to know their times tables up to 12x12 by the end of Y4. These underpin many aspects of mathematical learning (fractions, ratio, algebra, statistics)
- Symbols - Children need to recognise and understand mathematical symbols in order to be able to read and solve calculations
Procedural knowledge (Methods)
Children need to know specific methods (both mental and written) and be able to apply these skills with any numbers. Methods include partitioning, Number lines, Column method, Short multiplication, Long multiplication, Short division
Disciplinary concepts
The pupils are taught these disciplinary concepts within all domains of mathematics across all year groups: Using and applying, investigating, reasoning, problem solving, analysing and justifying and proving. We use a range of methods to embed our teaching and learning:
Concrete: The unit of work will begin with introducing the skills through the use of real objects or mathematical equipment. This enables the pupils to use a kinaesthetic ‘hands on’ approach. In division in KS1, for example, this could be done by separating apples into red ones and green ones or by sharing 12 biscuits amongst 6 children. In division in KS2, this could be done by using a place value chart and counters to create the number and then moving them on the place value chart to divide by 10, 100 or 1000.
Pictorial: When the children have understood the use of concrete resources, they then move on to representations such as diagrams or pictures. This may include annotating, drawing lines or circling objects. In KS2, this may be where a pupil is asked to draw his or her own charts or diagrams etc.
Abstract: Once the pupil is secure with the use of concrete and pictorial concepts, they should then be able to demonstrate their skills through the use of mathematical symbols, demonstrating their knowledge and understanding of the skill.
Impact
Children leave St. Paul’s as mathematical thinkers who can make connections in their learning to the world around them and are ready for the next stage in their education. The impact of our mathematics curriculum is measured through:
- · Pupil outcomes where evidence is gathered in the following ways: pupil voice interviews, book scrutinies, learning walks, discussions with staff etc.
- · Using summative assessment, formative assessment and book scrutinies to ensure children reach year group expectations
- · Monitoring of progress from year to year ensuring pupils remain ‘on track’ from their starting point
- · Moderation and scrutiny of pupil’s books and professional dialogue
- · Identifying clear next steps in school improvement, which are determined by a cycle of monitoring, evaluating and reviewing.
