Maths
Love Life, Love Learning
John 10:10 I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
"When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep..." Proverbs 8:27 (ESV)
Intent
At St Saviour’s, we believe that God is a mathematician.
The universe is a strange place, yet over the centuries mathematicians have developed a way of mapping its majesty and beauty, a language that is more discovered than invented.
A high-quality maths education provides our pupils with a competence and fluency in this universal and divine language.
Our pupils are taught to fluently in this language, internalising its core grammar and concepts until they can be used as naturally and readily as our own native tongues. Fluency allows our pupils to express their ideas confidently and clearly, reasoning by using logical arguments, lines of enquiry, posing conjectures and understanding proofs. These skills are then turned to problem-solving, providing a means of tackling mysteries and conjectures both solved and unsolved.
Implementation
Maths at St Saviours is taught in small, year-group classes to allow for focussed teaching. The basis of our curriculum is the Hampshire Scheme of Learning. This spiral-modelled curriculum allows for key concepts to be regularly revisited across the course of the year. A pupil at St Saviours will encounter each topic multiple times during the year, allowing them to develop their confidence initially with support, then guidance and oversight and finally confident independence. Our goal is to develop conceptual understanding of the underlying mathematical principles, as well as rigorous and reliable procedures to allow for calculation.
Pupils are encouraged to explain and represent their mathematical thinking using a range of strategies and symbols. We use the concrete-pictorial-abstract model of teaching, where new concepts are presented using a range of physical, manipulative representations to scaffold children’s growing understanding. Through a topic, images are used to bridge the gap between these tangible resources and the abstract language of mathematics. We draw from a range of high-quality resources to support this curriculum, including White Rose, Nrich, NCETM and Power Maths. Interventions are targeted to help all children make good progress in each year. We draw on the Rising Stars arithmetic programme to develop fluency in this crucial mathematical foundation.
Impact
Teachers track their pupils progress using ‘entry’ and ‘exit’ tickets for each unit of work, allowing them to plan lessons appropriate for the children’s current learning, to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching and to structure interventions appropriately. We use a range of diagnostic tools to allow for ‘snapshot’ Assessment for Learning in the classroom, to allow teaching to be reactive and flexible.
Our termly milestones allow us to measure progress in mathematics across the school. Tracking data regularly helps us to identify particular areas for focussed teaching, interventions and support, as well as identifying the strengths of our pupils to enable us to fully challenge them. Our times table reward scheme incentivizes pupils to become fluent in these key mathematical building blocks, as well as celebrating their successes.
For if God is a mathematician, to study maths is to worship.
To help pupils at St. Saviour's to learn their tables, each child has a log in for Times Tables Rock Stars. They can use this site to practice the rapid recall of number facts and receive rewards and a Rock Status for their efforts. We encourage children to use this website regularly at home if they can, as well as using materials in school to support this vital learning- knowing your times tables makes Maths so much easier!