Mathematics

Intent

At St. Gerard’s Catholic Primary School, we believe that Mathematics is an essential life skill that enables children to understand and engage confidently with the world around them. Our ambitious mathematics curriculum is designed to ensure that all pupils, regardless of starting point, develop fluency, resilience, confidence and a genuine enjoyment of mathematics.

We aim to provide a curriculum that is progressive, inclusive and carefully sequenced so that pupils build secure mathematical knowledge and skills over time. Through high-quality teaching and purposeful practice, children develop a deep conceptual understanding of number and mathematical structures, enabling them to reason, solve problems and make connections across different areas of learning.

Our curriculum is designed to ensure that all children:

become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics through varied and regular practice;
reason mathematically by explaining, justifying and proving their thinking using precise mathematical language;
solve a range of routine and non-routine problems with increasing independence and resilience;
develop confidence in applying mathematics to everyday life and across the wider curriculum;
recognise patterns, relationships and connections within mathematics;
acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for the next stage of their education and future life opportunities.

At St. Gerard’s, we promote high expectations and believe that all children can achieve success in mathematics. Through our mastery approach, children are encouraged to think deeply, articulate their understanding and apply their learning in different contexts. We strive to nurture children who can:

See Maths
Think Maths
Speak Maths
Love Maths

Our curriculum also supports the development of children’s cultural capital by making meaningful links between mathematics, real-life experiences and the wider world.

Implementation

At St. Gerard’s Catholic Primary School, mathematics is taught through a mastery approach which ensures that all children develop a deep and secure understanding of mathematical concepts. Pupils are taught in mixed-attainment classes and access the same ambitious curriculum, with appropriate support and challenge provided to enable all learners to succeed.

We use the White Rose Maths scheme as the foundation of our curriculum. Learning is carefully sequenced and progressively built upon so that pupils revisit key concepts regularly, strengthening retention and enabling children to make connections across different areas of mathematics. Prior learning is continually reviewed through retrieval practice and regular revisiting of key skills to ensure knowledge is embedded in long-term memory.

Lessons are designed in small, coherent steps to develop conceptual understanding before moving pupils towards greater fluency, reasoning and problem solving. Teachers use skilful questioning and mathematical discussion to encourage pupils to explain their thinking, identify patterns, make connections and justify their reasoning using precise mathematical vocabulary.

Teaching is adapted to meet the needs of all learners. Where misconceptions arise, same-day intervention and pre-teaching are used to provide timely support and ensure pupils keep up rather than catch up. Pupils who grasp concepts rapidly are provided with opportunities to deepen their understanding through reasoning, investigation and higher-level problem-solving activities.

A key feature of our teaching approach is the use of CPA (Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract) representations to develop secure conceptual understanding:

Concrete – pupils use practical resources and manipulatives to explore and represent mathematical concepts;
Pictorial – pupils use visual representations and models to deepen understanding and support reasoning;
Abstract – pupils apply their understanding using numbers, symbols and formal written methods with increasing confidence and independence.

Across the school, children are encouraged to develop fluency in number through regular retrieval and rehearsal of key facts and procedures. Core Skills sessions, alongside the NCETM Mastering Number programmes in EYFS, KS1 and KS2, support pupils in developing secure number sense, automaticity and confidence with calculation.

Mathematics is further enriched through meaningful links across the wider curriculum and opportunities to apply learning in real-life contexts. This helps children recognise the relevance of mathematics beyond the classroom and contributes to the development of their cultural capital and preparation for future learning and life experiences.

Impact

The impact of our mathematics curriculum is that children develop a secure and deep understanding of mathematical concepts, enabling them to become confident, fluent and resilient mathematicians. Pupils make sustained progress from their individual starting points and are well prepared for the next stage of their education.

Through high-quality teaching and carefully sequenced learning, children:

develop fluency in the fundamentals of mathematics and can recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately;
demonstrate strong conceptual understanding through the use of representations, explanations and mathematical language;
reason mathematically by identifying patterns, making connections, explaining their thinking and justifying solutions;
solve a range of routine and non-routine problems with increasing confidence, independence and perseverance;
apply mathematical skills across the curriculum and in real-life contexts;
show confidence and positivity towards mathematics and recognise its value in everyday life.

Children are able to discuss their learning using precise mathematical vocabulary and can represent concepts in multiple ways. Mathematical understanding is evident when pupils can independently apply their knowledge and skills to unfamiliar situations, explain their reasoning clearly and make connections between different areas of mathematics.

The impact of our curriculum is measured through:

ongoing formative assessment within lessons;
retrieval practice and regular review of prior learning;
pupil voice and discussions about learning;
low-stakes and summative assessments;
analysis of attainment and progress data;
the quality of work in pupils’ books;
children’s confidence, resilience and engagement in mathematics lessons.

As a result, pupils at St. Gerard’s leave primary school with the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to succeed in mathematics at secondary school and beyond.

Mathematical Fluency of Number Facts

Across the school we use Core Skills. These are daily practise of key instant recall facts and build on prior learning to ensure all children are ready to engage with new learning by activating their prior knowledge and there is a strong cycle of retrieval that underpins our Maths curriculum.

Reception and KS1 teach to the NCTEM Mastering Number program, alongside White Rose. This is to ensure that all children have a strong understanding of numbers and their composition. This aims to support children by laying the foundations for Maths, which they will need as they progress through school. By Year 1, all children should be fluent in their number bonds to 20.

Year 4 and Year 5 follow the Mastering Number Key Stage 2 program, alongside White Rose. This equips all children with a strong understanding of their times tables and the corresponding division facts. It also ensures that all children are fully prepared for the Year 4 Multiplication Check and that this deep understanding of multiplication and division continues to be consolidated in Year 5.

Our Vision for ALL children at St Gerard’s, through our ambitious Maths curriculum is That every child will be able to:

See Maths

Think Maths

Speak Maths

Love Maths