Mathematics

Mathematics Policy

English Martyrs’ Catholic School has been fully engaged with the new Mathematics curriculum since September 2014 and everyone in our school community is embracing the opportunity to deepen their understanding of Maths.

We share the belief that Mathematics is a creative and highly inter-connected discipline. It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. A high-quality mathematics education therefore provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.

Aims

The national curriculum for mathematics aims to ensure that all pupils:

• Become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including the varied and regular practice of increasingly complex problems over time.
• Reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, understanding relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language.
• Can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.

            Mathematics is an interconnected subject in which pupils need to be able to move fluently between mathematical ideas. The programmes of study are, by necessity, organised into distinct areas, but pupils will make rich connections across mathematical ideas to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competence in solving increasingly sophisticated problems. They will also apply their mathematical knowledge to science and other subjects.

In October 2017 we decided as a school to purchase the scheme - Maths No Problem. A scheme recommended by the local Maths Hubs, which follows the Singapore Maths teaching ideas and strategies. The children have adapted to the new scheme really well and are enjoying using the new methods.

Mathematical Fluency of Number Facts

KS1 - Children from Reception onwards learn their number bonds to 10 and 20.

Year 2 onwards children learn their times table facts and are expected to have a working knowledge of the 2, 10 and 5 times tables by the time they move on to Key Stage 2.  By the end of Year 4 they should have a solid working knowledge of all the times tables as well as good recall of key mathematical facts. 

 At English Martyrs’ School we believe that Maths is Fun and our aim is that our children will leave our school with a sustained enthusiasm for this subject.