St Catherine’s Catholic Primary School

At St. Catherine’s we aim to ensure that our children leave us confident in the use of mathematics and with an understanding of the skills needed to function in today’s world. They should be able to:

·         solve problems, to reason, to think logically and to work systematically and accurately,

·         use their initiative and to work both independently and in cooperation with others,

·         develop positive attitudes to mathematics and to recognise that it can be both enjoyable and useful,

·         develop a confidence with mathematics which equips them for their future lives and for future employment opportunities.

• As a school, we aim to offer a maths curriculum which is progressive and which takes into account the individual needs of children, provides a breadth of opportunities which are enjoyable and challenging and which enables children to see that it is in overcoming the barriers that they face in maths that they will develop their understanding and learn the most.
• Children in Y1 to Y6 will generally have a maths lesson every day, of between 40 and 60 minutes. In Reception the children are exposed to maths daily through planned, purposeful play activities and through a mix of adult focused and child initiated activities. All teachers differentiate learning to meet the needs of all of the children.
• In order to provide active and stimulating learning experiences, a variety of teaching and learning strategies are used. Children may work individually, in pairs, as part of a small group or as part of the whole class. They will be exposed to a variety of ways of recording their work, using computers, cameras and videos, as well as more traditional recording methods.  ‘Real life’ situations are used and opportunities to transfer skills are provided.
• Each classroom has a wide variety of maths resources available for pupils to access as they feel that they need them. They also have a Maths Learning Wall where strategies, accurate vocabulary and key ideas being covered that week are available as prompts and reminders.

We have a very clear calculations policy at St. Catherine’s. Initially children learn key number facts and use apparatus, such as counters and bead strings, which are freely available in all classrooms.  When they are ready, they move on to carrying out calculations more abstractly. We always encourage children to try and solve problems mentally before relying on written methods. When they are ready for formal methods, we have one simple document which explains all of the methods we will use in each calculation, throughout their time at St. Catherine’s. Our staff are always happy to explain any method which is new to you.