Mathematics at St Thomas More Catholic Primary School

Mathematics is an important creative discipline that helps us to understand and change the World. We want all pupils at St Thomas More Catholic Primary School to experience the beauty, power and enjoyment of mathematics and develop a sense of curiosity about the subject. God is at the heart of all we do and our curriculum is based on the key principles and beliefs of our Bishop. We ensure that through the lens of faith we develop individual, unique people and form the foundations of them being able to contribute to society.

At St Thomas More we foster positive ‘can do’ attitudes, believe all children can achieve in mathematics, and teach for secure and deep understanding of mathematical concepts. We use mistakes and misconceptions as an essential part of learning and provide challenge through rich and sophisticated problems before acceleration through new content. Showing respect, love and care for everyone and everything, we aim to develop harmony between pupils, parents, the school and Parish and grow as a Christian community. We aim to enable each individual to realise their full potential, spiritually, academically, physically, socially and emotionally.

Curriculum Intent:

Skills We aim for all pupils to:

• Become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics (see Year by Year Curriculum Maps) so that they develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.
• 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.

Maths Lessons:

Each lesson focuses on a manageable step of new learning based on the NC statements. Typical Lesson design:

1. Hook It: Introduction
2. Teach It: Live modelling of the new learning with explicit use of potential misunderstandings
3. Practise It: All children practise together Support & Challenge
4. Do It: Up to 5 examples – 5 ‘What it is’ or ‘3+2 ‘What it is/What it’s also’ Challenge 1: Procedural Fluency
5. Secure It: 1 or 2 Misunderstandings (True/false, Spot the mistake) Challenge 2: Conceptual Understanding
6. Deepen It: Apply understanding to solve new problems Challenge 3: Mathematical Thinking
7. Review It: Lesson Recap: Key Concept Statement and Key Vocabulary