Maths Aims & Objectives
Maths Subject Intent
At Stag Lane, we believe that mathematics equips pupils with a uniquely powerful set of tools to understand and change the world. These tools include number fluency, logical reasoning, problem-solving skills and the ability to think in abstract ways. It is a creative subject which we intend to stimulate moments of pleasure and wonder for our pupils.
We use a mastery approach to teaching mathematics and a strong emphasis on ‘Growth Mindset’ to enable the best outcomes for all our children. Our intent is to deliver a curriculum which is accessible to all and which ensures every child feels confident, successful and enthused about their maths learning.
Using a mastery planning scheme as a basis combined with ongoing formative assessment by teachers, children will progress through each strand of mathematics in small, carefully constructed steps building on prior knowledge and developing a deepening understanding of each mathematical concept. The curriculum has a ‘spiral’ nature so that the same concepts are re-visited each academic year but with increasing depth. Daily ‘keep up’ sessions are carried out outside the daily maths lesson to enable children to return to a concept or skill and deepen their understanding before moving on the next day.
The concrete, pictorial, abstract approach is applied throughout the school and is used flexibly to expose the underlying mathematical structures which pupils need to understand in order to achieve a deep understanding. A written calculation policy is employed to ensure methods, concrete manipulatives and pictorial representations are consistent and become familiar to the pupils as they progress through the school.
Numerical fluency is a skill which is acquired through being taught mathematics effectively. It is a proficiency which involves confidence and competence with numbers and measures. Numerical fluency is incorporated into each lesson to ensure skills are regularly practised to automaticity so that pupils can draw upon these with ease when problem-solving. There is an emphasis on understanding through procedural and conceptual variation (e.g. subtraction as ‘take away/count back as well as ‘difference’).
Through our approach to the teaching of maths we aim to achieve high standards of number fluency in all our pupils, flexibility of methods and the ability to apply number and computational skills across the curriculum and in daily life, and an appreciation of mathematics in general.
