Maths

'Mathematics has beauty and romance. It's not a boring place to be, the mathematical world. It's an extraordinary place; it's worth spending time there.' Marcus du Sautoy

At St Peter’s, we encourage children to develop maths skills that enable them to explore and solve problems encountered in the outside world. Our maths curriculum teaches and develops a logical approach to solving problems and develops mental strategies. We believe that every child has a right to these skills and through a range of activities, we aim to provide them with a ‘tool box’ that they can apply when solving ‘real life’ problems.

The majority of maths taught at St Peter’s is done through a daily maths lesson, linked to the National Curriculum. Children explore the key concepts of Number, Measurement, Geometry and Statistics. Maths learning across the school is based on a mastery approach with concepts being introduced using concrete apparatus and learning consolidated through the pictorial and then abstract.

By making links between these areas and encouraging children to apply their maths skills and develop reasoning, we aim to ensure that they are confident and enthusiastic in their approach to maths learning.

We use a range of pedagogical practices in the teaching of Maths to ensure that we are successful with our intent. This can range from small group tasks to individual tasks and whole class tasks. We use learning journeys rooted in the Concrete, Pictorial and the Abstract in which we focus on teacher modelling, expert questioning, giving children memorable experiences and over-learning to ensure that key knowledge is transferred to the children’s long- term memory.

We therefore intend that all pupils will:

Within each Year group, Children learn aspects of Number across each term. They work with place value, the four operations and fractions. Links are made between these and other areas of the Mathematics curriculum including Measurement, Geometry (properties of shape, and position and direction) and Statistics.

They will spend time daily learning, practising and consolidating their times tables knowledge. This includes linking ideas to known facts, scaling and decimals (see Times Tables Policy).

How you can support us

We fully encourage supporting your child with their maths work at home through the use of times table practice, number bond work and taking advantage of any opportunity for children to apply their knowledge in the real world. However often the most impactful learning happens at home where real-life application of skills can be experienced.

For example:

Get the children to handle the money when purchasing things from the shops
Ask them to tell you the time and how long until they finally get to have their dinner
When handing out treats, let them divide them up equally between their brothers and sisters!

Any opportunities like this will help the children build on their understanding and practice those key skills.

How we can support you at home

Below is a range of online website, activities, games and puzzles designed to aid children’s learning. Some may be accessed in school whilst others may help you with the confidence to support your child with any home learning they may have. Finally, please don’t be afraid to consult the school’s calculation policy. This explains in detail how different concepts are taught in different year groups.

Websites

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/problem-solving

A range of online activities and games

https://mathsframe.co.uk/

A range of games and worksheets to support teaching the curriculum

https://mathszone.co.uk/

Contains a range of activities for both KS1 and KS2

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/primary

A good selection of videos and activities.

http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/

A tool for making and customising maths puzzles

www.teachingtime.co.uk