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Maths

“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new” Albert Einstein

“Number rules the universe” Pythagoras

At Darell Primary School we believe that Mathematics is a creative and highly inter-connected discipline that has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems. 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.

We INTEND on delivering a curriculum which:  

  • Allows children to ENJOY being a part of creative and engaging lessons that will give them a range of opportunities to explore mathematics following a mastery curriculum approach.  

  • Gives each pupil a chance to take RESPONSIBILITY for themselves as mathematicians and develop the power of resilience and perseverance when faced with mathematical challenges.  

  • Recognises that mathematics underpins much of our daily lives and therefore is of paramount importance in order that children ASPIRE and become successful in the next stages of their learning.  

  • Engages all children and entitles them to the same quality of teaching and learning opportunities, striving to ACHIEVE their potential, as they belong to our school community. 

  • Makes rich connections across mathematical ideas to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competence in solving increasingly sophisticated problems.  

  • Provides EQUAL opportunities for children to apply their mathematical knowledge to other subjects (cross-curricular links).  

  • Is in line with the expectations in the National Curriculum 2014. 

Aims

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

  • become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.

  • reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language

  • can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions. 

Teaching for Mastery aims to provide all children with full access to the curriculum, enabling them to achieve confidence and competence – ‘mastery’ – in mathematics.

Key features of our Maths Mastery curriculum:

  • High expectations for every child

  • Fewer topics, greater depth

  • Number sense and place value come first

  • Research -based curriculum

  • Objects and pictures always before numbers and letters

  • Problem solving is central

  • Calculate with confidence– understand why it works

Mathematics Mastery places emphasis on the cumulative mastery of essential knowledge and skills in mathematics. It embeds a deeper understanding of maths by utilising a concrete, pictorial, abstract approach so that pupils understand what they are doing rather than just learning to repeat routines without grasping what is happening.