Maths
Subject Intent
At St Paul's C of E Primary School, we want pupils to develop a curiosity for and a love of mathematics as they explore it further. We place emphasis on our pupils moving through the different stages of understanding: concrete, pictorial and abstract and look for opportunities to help them to place their understanding within the context of the wider world. This could be through examples such as: calculating the total amount of money we need to purchase items, working out what time to meet a connecting train or weighing precise amounts of ingredients when following a recipe.
Our core aim at St Paul's is to make our children fluent in solving calculations and to equip them with the tools to solve a variety of problems. Developing problem solving and reasoning skills is a thread that runs through all of our Maths lessons, with pupils constantly challenged to explain why and to prove how they know they are correct or have found all possible outcomes.
Pupils are encouraged to use a wide range of resources and manipulatives to support their learning, such as: hundred squares, number lines, numicon, cubes, place value cards and counters, and are taught to use and create pictorial representations to support their understanding, such as part-whole and bar models.
We look for opportunities to enrich the maths curriculum by making explicit links between different subject araes, such as when completing fieldwork in Geography (traffic survey), cooking in DT or collecting and recording results in Science, to further support pupils in putting their Maths learning into context. We provide opportunities for our pupls to take part in maths challenges where they have the chance to compete against others and use links with our local secondary schools to organise 'taster sessions' to give pupils the chance to experience how Maths will be approached when they move into secondary school.
We also ensure that pupils are introduced to the importance of Maths for certain careers. We hold an annual 'Careers Fair' for our Key Stage 2 pupils which allows them to find out more about a variety of careers, including the skills that are needed to qualify for or to be successful within these roles. We also find opportunities to celebrate examples of when Maths has had a positive impact, such as when teaching the pupils about Katherine Johnson.
At St Paul's, we believe that Maths is an essential skill that enables us to live an independent life, which is why we place an emphasis on all of our pupils having a sound understanding of key concepts prior to their transition to secondary school as a solid foundation to build further knowledge and skills upon.
Skills and Knowledge Progression & Whole School Overview
Maths Skills and Knowledge Progression
Click here to see what each class is currently focusing on in their Maths lessons
Year Group Overviews and Further Information for Parents
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Year group overviews coming soon
Subject Policy
Coming soon
