Intent

At St Laurence Church of England Primary School, we believe that mathematics is an important creative discipline that helps us to understand and change the world. We want all pupils at St Laurence Church of England Primary School to experience the beauty, power and enjoyment of mathematics and develop a sense of curiosity about the subject with a clear understanding. We foster positive can-do attitudes and we promote the fact that ‘We can all do maths!’ We believe all children can achieve in mathematics, and teach for secure and deep understanding of mathematical concepts through manageable steps. We use mistakes and misconceptions as an essential part of learning. At our school, the majority of children will be taught the content from their year group only. They will spend time becoming true masters of content, applying and being creative with new knowledge in multiple ways.

We aim for all pupils to:

• become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics so that they develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.
• be able to solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of problems with increasing sophistication, including in unfamiliar contexts and to model real-life scenarios
• reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry and develop and present a justification, argument or proof using mathematical language.
• have an appreciation of number and number operations, which enables mental calculations and written procedures to be performed efficiently, fluently and accurately to be successful in mathematics

Implementation

Here at St. Laurence Church of England Primary School, we use the Whiterose Maths scheme from EYFS through to Year 6. It has the teaching for mastery concepts interwoven throughout each lesson. We employ a quality first teaching approach for all and identify, which pupils require additional support to succeed. We also identify those children who flourish in maths and offer additional challenges and opportunities to deepen their understanding of the subject.

We aim to provide the children with a broad and varied experience of maths, ensuring strong links throughout the taught curriculum and seamless progression through the year groups.

• In the EYFS, children’s achievements are on-going and are assessed against the Early Learning Goals.
• Assessment for learning is well established throughout the school and the use of questioning, observation and marking is
• We use termly summative assessment using the Rising Stars NTS tests which helps to inform teacher assessments.
• We use the Shine intervention system to develop a personalised intervention approach.
• Statutory assessments take place in EYFS in the form of a baseline and again at the end of KS1 and KS2.

Whiterose Maths

White Rose Maths is an organisation that provides maths resources and Schemes of Learning for pupils of all ages, from early years to secondary school. The schemes of learning outline yearly frameworks that break down what children need to learn during each week of each term to master the learning objectives laid out by the National Curriculum.  White Rose Maths frameworks are designed to be enjoyable, engaging and varied, to help pupils develop a love of learning and work towards mastery with differentiated resources.

But what defines White Rose Maths more than their resources and frameworks is their approach to teaching maths. At the heart of their resources and frameworks is the motto “Everyone Can Do Maths: Everyone Can!” — a slogan that we wholeheartedly agree with!

White Rose teaches children mathematical concepts through pictorial, practical and written methods in order to develop a deep understanding, confidence and competence in Maths and improve fluency. Fluency in Maths is about developing number sense and being able to choose and use the most appropriate method for the task at hand and be able to apply a skill to multiple contexts. 

How can I help?

Whiterose maths produce free digital workbooks that are available to view online or download and print. These are broken down into blocks of learning, which correspond to the work that your child will be doing in class. 

e.g 

If your child is in year 5, they will be learning about Place Value in block 1 of the Autumn term. You can view the support booklet for place value by following the link above and selecting the booklet as shown below:

It contains questions similar to the learning that takes place in the maths lessons for that block. 

For more information about Whiterose maths, including how you can help your child, visit this link: Whiterose Maths