Maths

Our Maths Curriculum:

‘In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.’

Albert Einstein

Our vision for Maths:

At St Bartholomew’s, we recognise the importance of Maths as a key skill in everyday life. We aim to put the children at the centre of our Maths curriculum and through teaching and learning experiences, help them to succeed to the best of their abilities. We aim to provide a high-quality Maths education that offers a firm foundation for understanding how Maths is used in everyday life and activities, developing pupils’ ability to reason mathematically.

The skills of a great Maths student:

Through the teaching of Maths, we aim to support pupils in developing a process of enquiry and experiment so they can achieve:

• A positive attitude towards Maths and an awareness of the relevance of Maths in the real world.
• Fluency in mathematical understanding from the most basic level so that pupils can build upon their own understanding.
• An ability to solve problems, to explain their methods to reason, to think logically and to work systematically and accurately.
• An ability to develop their conceptual understanding, recall number facts and patterns and apply their knowledge rapidly and accurately.
• An ability to work both independently and in cooperation with others so they are able to make progress at their own pace.
• Resilience, competence and confidence in pupils’ Maths knowledge, concepts and skills.
• Curiosity to make mathematical statements and investigate them.
• Their ability to reason through opportunities to discuss their thinking and understanding. This emphasis may result in less written work but much deeper understanding.

What does Maths look like at St Bartholomew's?

At St Bartholomew’s, EYFS and Years 1-6 use carefully planned curriculum maps, which support the key aims of the National Curriculum. These documents follow the White Rose Maths schemes of learning, which support a mastery approach. Each teacher is also provided with a calculation policy to ensure that teaching of written methods and representations are done in line with White Rose planning and progress appropriately. The White Rose schemes provide teachers with exemplification for Maths objectives and are broken down into fluency, reasoning and problem solving, key aims of the National Curriculum. They support a mastery approach to teaching and learning and have number at their heart. They ensure teachers stay in the required key stage and support the ideal of depth before breadth. They support pupils working together as a whole group and provide plenty of time to build reasoning and problem-solving elements into the curriculum.

At St Bartholomew’s, we strive for all learners to enjoy their Maths lessons and mastery Maths lends itself to this through the visual and pictorial elements and practical manipulatives that are part of the lessons taught. Each class has access to age-related manipulatives that go hand-in-hand with the curriculum material. Careful long-term planning ensures that these manipulatives are used at the correct moments during lesson time to help develop skills and deepen learning.

What do our pupils think?