Maths

Mathematics is a creative and highly interconnected discipline that has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems. It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. A high-quality mathematics education therefore provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.

(National Curriculum 2014)

At St John XXIII we aim to ensure that pupils:

• Become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately
• Reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language
• Can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions

The EYFS Statutory Framework 2014 sets standards for the learning, development and care of children from birth to five years old and supports an integrated approach to early learning. This is supported by the ‘Development matters’ non statutory guidance.

The EYFS Framework in relation to mathematics aims for our pupils to:

• Develop and improve their skills in counting
• Understand and use numbers
• Calculate simple addition and subtraction problems
• Describe shapes, spaces, and measures

The National Curriculum sets out year-by-year programmes of study for key stages 1 and 2. This ensures continuity and progression in the teaching of mathematics.

To support Maths teaching and learning in Years 1-6 we use the White Rose Maths resources. These provide teachers with exemplification for Maths objectives and are broken down into fluency, reasoning and problem solving, key aims of the National Curriculum. They support a mastery approach to teaching and learning and have number at their heart. They ensure teachers stay in the required key stage and support the ideal of depth before breadth. They support pupils working together as a whole group and provide plenty of time to build reasoning and problem solving elements into the curriculum.

Parental Involvement

Parents often ask how they can best support their child's learning in Maths when the methods we teach are so different to those they are familiar with from their own schooling. We would like our parents to demonstrate a positive attitude towards maths and to be 'cheerleaders' when supporting their children in practising and consolidating skills. Maths home learning, which is detailed on the class pages of the website each week, will for the most part reflect the in-class learning of the week. Applying maths in as many real-life contexts as possible is a vital part of home learning and we appreciate you taking the opportunities when 'out and about' to apply the children's learning. With this in mind, we have some 'Out and About' documents at the end of this page to give some examples of questions you could ask in different scenarios.