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Our Approach to Maths

At St. Alban’s Catholic Primary School, we strive to ensure that Mathematics work is meaningful and purposeful with a strong focus on embedding problem solving across the school. We wish pupils to feel confident and competent when using mathematics to enable them to make sense of the world and to solve real-life problems.

Throughout the school, children are given opportunities to engage in practical work using relevant materials and equipment, this is considered essential as the basis for the acquisition of the key concepts in Mathematics. Alongside this, the children also learn fundamental number facts and relationships which are the foundation of future work in Mathematics.

A range of formal and informal assessments are carried out by all teachers to ensure that each child progresses at their own rate. This allows children to work towards their own personalised targets and help them become independent learners.  Throughout the school children are taught mathematics by their class teacher in mixed ability classes. All pupils have a daily mathematics lesson, in addition to the daily lesson, various intervention groups are in place in school to support all learners.

St Alban’s follows the White Rose maths curriculum to ensure progression, coverage and depth of knowledge for all learners.

Please refer to the White Rose scheme of work for further details.

https://whiterosemaths.com/schemes-of-learning/primary-sols/

EYFS

At St. Alban’s we know the importance of providing practical opportunities for the children to develop and apply their mathematical knowledge to their own learning. Through exploration and play the children can be motivated to think critically and begin to solve everyday problems through applying their learning to new experiences. 

Key Stage 1

The main focus within Mathematics in Key Stage 1 is to ensure that pupils develop confidence and mental fluency within whole numbers, counting and place value and also to begin to embed these skills in their problem solving. This involves working with numerals, words and the four operations. Children are encouraged to use mathematical vocabulary when discussing different topics. Mathematical vocabulary is displayed in classrooms and around our school to ensure that children have access to it on a day to day basis.

Key Stage 2

In Key Stage 2, children continue strengthening their knowledge and understanding of the four operations and apply this knowledge in a variety of ways solving problems and completing a variety of investigations.

At St. Alban’s we acknowledge the importance of children being able to apply mathematical knowledge to real life experiences; it is essential, therefore, that children develop strong mental maths skills to achieve this. To become confident in developing mental maths strategies, the children must know their times tables. Regular practise is planned for in the delivery of mathematics but we do ask that extra time is spent learning these number facts at home.

The 2014 Mathematics National Curriculum expects that by the end of Year 4, children will know all the times tables facts up to 12 x 12.

Children take part in half-termly times tables quizzes and can work towards bronze, silver and gold badges to demonstrate their learning.  Please work with us to encourage your child to learn their times tables.