Maths
‘Mathematics is the language with which God wrote the universe.’ – Galileo.
We are passionate about the teaching and learning of Maths and want our children to recognise that Maths is linked to other areas of the curriculum and the real world.
I can count the leaves that fall off of the trees and the people on the bus
Elsie, Reception
St James Hatcham CE Maths Intent
We want to help our children approach Maths challenges fearlessly with grit and purpose, enjoying the struggle that comes with reasoning and problem solving. We are committed to fostering a love of learning through Maths, valuing questions and the contribution of all pupils in order that every individual is motivated to achieve at the very highest level and at the greatest depths of understanding.
We actively encourage a mathematical growth mindset reminding out children that they learn through mistakes, deeper thinking and challenges.
Our calculation policy ensures all pupils are well equipped with progressive, efficient strategies for the four operations relevant to the age and stage at which they are working.
Our intent is for every pupil to gain a rich mathematical experience beginning during the early years and leaving our care as able and independent mathematicians who are able to calculate fluently, reason confidently and solve problems efficiently.
At St James Hatcham we aim to:
- teach for mastery by including number at the heart of our planning, support the ideal of depth before breadth and provide opportunities for reasoning and problem solving
- support the idea of 'revisit, revise, remember' aiding children in their ability to make connections between prior and current learning and embedding concepts
- introduce new concepts through a concrete – pictorial – abstract (CPA) approach to build competency. We encourage this model not to be seen as a process you go through more as a support to scaffold children’s learning based on their age, stage and ability
- work with our families to develop a mind-set within our pupils that will enable them to overcome barriers to their learning. We are committed to supporting children in working with passion and dedication encouraging them to think about how they are learning, particularly when they are struggling
- Support children to think about the importance of Maths learning across other subjects and in the real world
- support children in recognising Maths is an interconnected subject. We want children to be able to move with ease between different representations of mathematical ideas and use their prior knowledge to support with their current learning
I love Maths because I am good at spotting the odd one out.
Sam, Reception
St James Hatcham CE Maths Implementation
Our Maths curriculum at St James is delivered with the support of the White Rose Maths scheme and calculation policy. The models and images provided by the scheme help to support the understanding of mathematical concepts. This scheme supports a teaching approach that encourages new learning but also adopts a culture of ‘Revisit, Revise, Remember’ that promotes retention of knowledge and supports children to embed prior learning, make connections to current maths and consider future application.
The scheme breaks down the national curriculum objectives into smaller steps providing a scaffold for achievement with the small steps being connected and concepts being built upon. With the support of the scheme, teachers are able to deliver well-structured and thought provoking maths helping our children to progressively develop their skills at an age and stage appropriate level and supports with .
Teachers promote and encourage pupils to work collaboratively, as well as independently, and provide excellent modelling of all mathematical processes and concepts as part of everyday teaching through a ‘My turn, Our Turn, Your Turn’ approach. Our classroom environments provide visual consistency across key stages with learning walls promoting the concrete, pictorial and abstract approach as a guide and reference for our children. The walls provide access to current toolkits, prior learning, mathematical sentence stems to support with reasoning and a consistent problem solving strategy.
Alongside our consistent scheme, use of resources and environments, we adopt a consistent assessment approach using PiXL (Partners in Excellence). We use PiXL as a diagnostic tool and as support with data and tracking of progress to provide us with clear, concise information further aiding learning and achievement of mathematics at St James.
When I make a mistake it's ok because I can fix it and learn.
Aren, Year 2
St James Hatcham CE Maths Impact
At St James, all pupils make good or better progress in maths.
Through evaluation of work in children’s books, it is clear to see the high quality of mathematics throughout St James. Children can confidently talk about their work in maths lessons and can apply age-appropriate skills and knowledge in their work. They aren’t afraid to make mistakes, recognising that mistakes help them to learn and challenges help their brains to grow demonstrating both perseverance and resilience in their mathematical learning. Our children enjoy Maths and understand its importance in the real world.
