Maths

Why is Maths important to us as a school?

Maths is important to us as a school because it introduces children to concepts, skills and thinking strategies that are essential in everyday life and supports learning across the curriculum. It helps children make sense of the numbers, patterns and shapes they see in the world around them, offers ways of handling data in an increasingly digital world and makes a crucial contribution to their development as successful learners. Children delight in using mathematics to solve a problem, especially when it leads them to an unexpected discovery or new connections. As their confidence grows, they look for patterns, use logical reasoning, suggest solutions and try out different approaches to problems. Maths offers children a powerful way of communicating. They learn to explore and explain their ideas using symbols, diagrams and spoken and written language. They start to discover how maths has developed over time and contributes to our economy, society and culture. Studying mathematics stimulates curiosity, fosters creativity and equips our children with the skills they need in life beyond school.

What are the aims of Maths? 

We aim to develop:
•    A fluency in the in the basics of maths, through varied and regular practice increasingly the complexity of problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply mathematical knowledge rapidly and accurately.
•    An ability to reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry and developing a justification or proof using mathematical language.
•    An ability to solve problems by applying their maths to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing complexity, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.  
•    A love for maths in seeing that maths is a fundamental part of understanding many other subjects through making connections between subjects and giving children opportunities to develop fluency, reasoning and problem solving skills in other contexts

How is Maths structured? 

Maths is taught every day in maths lessons as well as in many other areas of the curriculum. It comprises of shared, guided and independent work, mental and oral maths. Children use a range of resources to support learning.
 
How do we ensure quality teaching and learning?

As a school we use White Rose Planning and Premium Resources along with other resources to supplement White Rose. We use a Maths Mastery Approach within Saint Joseph’s which ensures that all our children are exposed to rich mathematical experiences – including Concrete, Pictorial and Abstract approaches.

What do we hope children will get from Maths? 

We passionately believe that every child can be a mathematician. At Saint Joseph’s, learning experiences for children in maths should ensure that children enjoy learning mathematics, by providing opportunities to experience the sense of pleasure that comes from solving a problem or a mathematical puzzle, having their curiosity stimulated by formulating their own questions and investigating mathematical situations, playing small-group games that draw on mathematical skills and concepts, experimenting with pattern in numbers and shapes and discovering relationships for themselves and have some exciting moments in maths where they are surprised, delighted and intrigued. By the end of their time at Saint Joseph’s, we hope that the children are fluent in the fundamentals of maths; can reason mathematically; can solve their problems by reasoning mathematically and most of all they enjoy maths.