Mathematics at Our Lady & St Thomas
The National Curriculum states that;
Mathematics is a creative and highly inter-connected discipline that has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems. It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. A high-quality mathematics education therefore provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.
Intent
At Our Lady and St Thomas RC Primary school our aim is for each of our children to become independent mathematicians who love maths, find it challenging and yet know they can achieve. Through a mastery approach, where children are involved in fluency, problem solving and reasoning within each lesson, our aim is for each child to become competent in all their year group expectations and in some cases to enjoy being challenged to think even deeper.
Throughout lessons children will be provided with practical resources for concrete workings before being asked to demonstrate their understanding pictorially and then representing their methods formally. They will be able to reason and explain their methods using a wide range of mathematical language. We would like the children to be able to apply their learning to problem solving and real life situations and to be resilient when challenged.
Implementation
At OLST the children have daily maths lessons. All classes apart from Year 6 are mixed age and all follow White Rose medium term small steps planning in conjunction with a wide range of other resources including NCETM, Classroom Secrets and NRICH. Additional time is spent within each class focusing on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to support fluency.
We are currently involved in a mastery project which will impact positively on teaching and learning right across the school. We also regularly moderate work as part of a cluster of schools and this is very useful as we share ideas not only with colleagues but with teachers from other schools. As a staff we have regular training and the maths lead attends network events each term.
This year we are also implementing the ‘Mastering Number’ lessons in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2.
We track progress across the year and monitor planning, lessons and books. Where we find that progress is not being made we provide intervention. Depending on the needs of the individual, intervention could take the form of immediate, same day, pre teaching, weekly or longer term.
Children are continually assessed as part of their lessons in order to inform planning. We assess children more formally each term to evaluate progress. These findings are discussed with the head teacher in pupil progress and performance management meetings.
Impact
At OLST all staff are committed to ensuring that each child reaches their full potential in maths. They will be able to use and apply their skills in the wider curriculum and the wider world. At OLST we intend for all of our children to reach age related expectations or above and for all children to make good progress.