Mathematics is one of the core subjects of our school curriculum. Much emphasis is put on the acquisition of sound concepts in number, all forms of measurement (length, weight, area, volume, capacity, time) and shape. To achieve this aim the children are given plenty of practical experience cross curricularly (geography, science) , and are encouraged to discuss their observations and to consider further possibilities. They also learn to record their work- as sums, as graphs and using appropriate units. Their knowledge and understanding at every level, is continually challenged by problem solving and investigational work. Our curriculum includes the following:
NUMBER: Ordering, matching, counting. Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of both whole numbers and fractions. Percentages
MEASUREMENT:Time, length, capacity and volume, weight and area.Reading scales
ALGEBRA :Patterns and symbols, inverse operations, simple formulae, co-ordinates and generating sequences
GEOMETRY:Sorting and classifying 2-D and 3-D shape. Angles, symmetry, bearings, reflection, congruence, rotational and reflective symmetry.Area, perimeter and volume.
STATISTICS:Collecting and recording data leading to a frequency table, block graph, Venn diagram, tree diagram or Carroll diagram. Probability. Accessing information in a simple data base. Constructing and interpreting statistical diagrams. Calculating mean and range of a set of data.
RATIO AND PROPORTION:Recognizing proportionality in context. Using ratio knowledge to compare sizes, quantities and scale drawings.
In Mental Maths we aim to help children to become masterful at calculations and to acquire skills such as estimation and approximation. We recognize the importance of Mathematics in everyday life and to this end promote the ability to handle money, read timetables, understand percentages take measurements etc
Our aim is that the children in our care will develop a positive attitude towards mathematics, and find the subject useful, enjoyable and challenging.
We value a maths curriculum that is creative and engaging. All children to have access to this curriculum and to make progress in lessons. Our children need to develop the necessary skills to make them “deep thinkers” acquiring maths skills that can be recalled quickly and transferred and applied in different contexts. They need to be able to make rich connections across the areas of maths and use their knowledge in other subjects. Maths is the foundation for understanding the world and we want our children to know the purpose behind their learning and to apply their knowledge to their everyday lives.
At St Francis, we strive to ensure that Mathematics work is meaningful and purposeful. We wish pupils to feel confident and competent when using mathematics to enable them to make sense of the world and to solve problems.
Here at St Francis we follow the Southwark Medium Term Plans and relevant calculation policies, in order to ensure that our children have full coverage of the Maths National Curriculum and to allow our children to revisit topics several times over the year allowing their knowledge to embed. All children are catered for within the maths lessons ensuring that the teacher offers the necessary support and challenge for each individual to make progress. We ensure that maths is taught in creative and engaging lessons using a wide array of maths manipulatives to aid and support our children in their learning. Computing is used widely across each year group to deliver the maths curriculum and to offer our pupils a range of exciting activities to challenge and inspire.
We aim to encourage in depth learning for our children so that their knowledge can be transferred and applied in many contexts including other subjects e.g. science and art and their everyday lives. Number concepts are taught using real life examples which include geometry, measurement, statistics and algebra. Maths is widely promoted across the school and our classrooms have working walls that the children can utilise to support their learning and provide extra challenge.
Our aim is to ensure that the three core areas of the National Curriculum are covered in all our lessons: fluency, reasoning and problem solving. We offer the children the opportunity to have varied and frequent practise of their maths skills with the focus on their ability to recall and apply their knowledge rapidly and accurately. Reasoning is a key area in all our lessons as our children need to be able to Describe, explain, convince, justify and prove to be successful in this subject.
Mathematical vocabulary is an essential part of each lesson and the children must understand these terms within the area they are studying and be able to make connections across other areas of learning within this subject. Each lesson provides children with the opportunity to reason through their ideas, use their mathematical language to explore a line of enquiry and problem solve routine and non-routine 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.
We hope to build problem-solvers of the future and build resilience in our children; essential skills they can use in all aspects of their learning. Here at St Francis we offer enrichment activities to promote maths within our children’s lives including extra-curricular maths clubs such as ‘The 24 Game’, boosters and a dedicated maths week each year in school.
Structure of a Maths Lesson
The teachers have a flexible approach to the structure of their lesson so that they can reach the needs of an ambitious maths curriculum.
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 to support all learners in school.
The children also have daily Guided Maths sessions, where the teacher works with targeted groups to tackle misconceptions or to extend their learning.
All lessons cater for the individual needs of the children and include some element of reasoning and problem solving. Questioning is a key part of the maths lesson – letting the children demonstrate what they know and challenging them to prove it.
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.
- It is intended that when pupils leave St Francis they will have met the attainment targets in the Mathematics programme of study.
- Pupils will enjoy Mathematics
- Pupils of all abilities will succeed in all Maths lessons because work is appropriately scaffolded
- Pupils will have a wide vocabulary that they use within their Maths lessons
- Parents and carers will have a good understanding of how they can support Mathematics, including problem solving and reasoning at home, and contribute regularly to homework
- The percentage of pupils working at ARE within each year group will be at least in line with or better than national averages.
- The percentage of pupils working at Greater Depth within each year group will be at least in line with or better than national averages
- There will be no significant gaps in the progress of different groups of pupils (e.g. disadvantaged vs non- disadvantaged)