Mathematics Statement of Intent
The intent of our mathematics curriculum is to ensure that every child enjoys mathematics and becomes an enthusiastic mathematician by developing their skills, knowledge and understanding through practical experiences that have relevance and purpose in everyday situations. It is important that children develop the skills of numeracy to become lifelong learners. They should be able to apply these skills in different situations across the curriculum and in daily living outside school.

We want every child to make connections across mathematical concepts in order to develop their fluency, reasoning and problem solving skills, and to be able to apply their mathematical knowledge in other curriculum areas.

It is essential that pupils understand its importance in being able to function effectively in everyday life, including carrying out employment and dealing with financial matters.

Aims of Mathematics at Cotford St Luke Primary School
We aim to ensure that all pupils:

• develop a positive attitude towards mathematics.
• develop and consolidate basic mathematical skills and become numerically fluent.
• promote confidence and competence with numbers and the number system.
• develop the ability to solve problems through decision making and reasoning in a range of contexts.
• develop a practical understanding of the ways in which information is gathered, presented and interpreted.
• explore features of shape and space, and develop measuring skills in a range of contexts.
• develop mathematical communication through speaking and listening, practical activities and recording work.
• develop an ability to use and apply mathematics across the curriculum and in real life.

Implementation:

Mathematics is a core subject and is taught discretely following the planning and support from the White Rose Maths Hub. However, where relevant, mathematics is linked to ongoing project work.

Our maths curriculum:

• has number at its heart. A large proportion of time is spent reinforcing number to build competency
• provide plenty of opportunities to build reasoning and problem solving elements into the curriculum.

We believe that all children, when introduced to a new concept, should have the opportunity to build competency by taking the following approach.

• Concrete-children should have the opportunity to use concrete objects to help them understand what they are doing.
• Pictorial- alongside this children should use pictorial representations. These representations can then be used to help reason and solve problems.
• Abstract- both concrete and pictorial representations should support children’s understanding of abstract methods.

Each lesson phase provides the means to achieve greater depth. Independent work provides the means for all children to develop their fluency further, before progressing to more complex related problems. The large majority of children progress through the curriculum content at the same pace. Differentiation is achieved by emphasising deep knowledge and through individual support and intervention. Mathematical topics are taught in blocks, to enable the achievement of ‘mastery’ over time. Practice and consolidation play a central role. Carefully designed variation within this builds fluency and understanding of underlying mathematical concepts. 

Impact:

The school has a supportive ethos and our approach supports the children in developing their collaborative and independent skills, as well as empathy and the need to recognise the achievement of others. Students can underperform in Mathematics because they think they can’t do it or are not naturally good at it. The Mathematics Mastery programme addresses these preconceptions by ensuring that all children experience challenge and success in Mathematics by developing a growth mindset. It is imperative that the children have a secure understanding of each mathematical concept before moving on.

As well as assessment for learning during lessons, regular and ongoing assessment of the pupils’ outcomes informs teaching, as well as intervention, to support and enable the success of each child. 

We use a variety of strategies to evaluate the knowledge, skills and understanding that our children gain as they progress from Nursery to Year 6: 

• Regular feedback marking and pupil voice feedback
• Subject monitoring, including planning scrutinies, book looks and learning walks
• Termly summative assessments to support our teachers’ assessment of pupils

Cultural capital:

Cultural Capital is the essential knowledge that children need to prepare them for their future success – in the world of work, in relationships forged throughout life and as a valued contributor to society. When beginning their primary school journey in the EYFS, many children arrive to school with different and sometimes more limited experiences than others. Therefore, our aim is to give children the knowledge and skills to prepare them for what comes next in their lives. This includes the relevant vocabulary needed throughout their education and the opportunity to link maths to real-world problem solving.  

Curriculum - what we teach and when