Statement of Intent

At St Teresa's, we believe that mathematics is essential for everyday life. It teaches us how to make sense of the world around us through developing an ability to calculate; whether it is through working out change, telling the time or measuring the correct amount. We want our children to have a positive mindset to maths, appreciating that it is necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment but is also a fun and engaging experience. At St Teresa's we believe that all pupils can achieve as we structure our progressive learning across classes to ensure skills and knowledge are built upon. We hope children experience a sense of awe and wonder as they solve a problem through using a multi-sensory approach. We aim for them to  discover a more systematic solution to problems, explain their understanding in full sentences and make links between different areas of mathematics as well as the wider curriculum.

Implementation

Teaching and Learning follow the National Curriculum expectations, using a Mastery Approach. Fuller detail of this approach can be found in the Maths Curriculum Overview. Planning is based on the White Rose Long/ Medium and Short Term Planning which link directly to the National Curriculum programmes of study. Staff use their expertise to plan activities that broaden and deepen understanding, skills and knowledge from a variety of sources, including teacher made.  We devote a significant amount of time to developing basic number concepts as well as reasoning skills.  This is to build up children’s fluency as number awareness will affect their success in other areas of mathematics.

We teach the whole class together, building on previous knowledge and plan for small steps of progression. Interventions, which may be just on the day or more long term,  take place as necessary and, where possible, are carried out in class.  There are opportunities for children who need extra support to receive small group or individual help working with specialist staff.

Impact

Teaching staff use formative assessment in every lesson to gauge understanding and application of concepts, with lessons adapted to ensure children are making continuous progress. Attainment is more formally assessed using White Rose termly assessments, optional standardised tests in the summer term and the national statutory tests.  Staff monitor the progress and attainment of pupils x3 annually, leading to identification of children who need extra support or where curriculum gaps need addressing on a whole class basis.  For the past few years, attainment at the end of KS1 and KS2 have been above national achievements.  Most children enjoy maths and are positive about their ability in the subject.  We are aware that the vast majority of past pupils go on to careers in STEM,  building on the strong foundation built at St Teresa’s.