St Thomas a Becket Catholic Primary School

Intent

At St Thomas a Becket Catholic Primary School, we aim to inspire all children by giving them a lively sense of interest and pleasure in the beauty of maths and its use in everyday life. We intend for children at our school to understand the importance of maths in the wider world and enable them to use their skills and knowledge confidently in their lives in a range of different contexts. We are committed to ensuring that all children are able to reason, problem solve and have a fluent conceptual understanding of each area of mathematics. These skills are consistently embedded within our maths lessons through the use of the White Rose scheme.

Implementation

At St Thomas a Becket Catholic Primary School, we use White Rose Maths from EYFS to year 6, which provides consistency and progression and supports teachers to deliver all aspects of a Maths Mastery curriculum effectively. Teachers reinforce the expectation that ALL children are capable of achieving high standards in maths through a range of strategies including random pairing. Teachers use precise questioning in class to assess conceptual and procedural knowledge and to ensure children are challenged through individual support and intervention. We work closely with the Maths Hub to ensure all staff members understand the pedagogy of the mastery approach.

As a result of partial school closures over the last two years, long term curriculum objectives have been adapted to allow for a longer time on topics to secure understanding. Additional content has also been added to teach objectives that children have missed and maths fluency sessions have been added to support learning. Mathematical topics are taught in blocks, to enable the achievement of ‘mastery’ over time. In maths books, each learning block begins with a front cover which includes the objectives that will be covered. In each lesson, new concepts are shared thoroughly and reasoning and problem-solving activities prompt discussion and reasoning. Teachers use careful questioning to draw out children’s understanding and possible misconceptions. Independent work provides the means for all children to develop their fluency further, before progressing to more complex problems. Children are expected to use manipulatives from EYFS to year 6 to support the CPA approach (concrete, pictoral, abstract) as well as agreed written calculation methods as highlighted in the school calculation policy (appendix 1).

In the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), we provide children with opportunities to practise and improve their skills in counting numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems, and describing shapes, spaces, and measures. We continually observe and assess children against these areas using their age-related objectives, and plan the next steps in their mathematical development.

Impact

At St Thomas a Becket School, children understand the relevance of what they are learning in relation to real world concepts. They are developing growth mindsets, are beginning to appreciate the value of learning from mistakes, and are acquiring a deep knowledge base in preparation for each stage of their learning.

Throughout the school, children’s workbooks contain a wide range of examples of fluency, reasoning and problem solving activities and these, together with teacher assessment and pupil voice clearly demonstrate their deepening understanding of the subject .

Each child strives to do their best, and is given the support and opportunity to maximise their potential. From their differing starting points, children from St Thomas a Becket Catholic Primary School make good academic progress in mathematics, and at the end of Key Stage One and Two, their attainment is above the local and national averages.