Maths
Aim
At St William of York Catholic Primary School, we aim to ensure that all children have a deep understanding of the Maths they are learning. For mathematical understanding to be secure, learning needs to be built on solid foundations. Mastery of mathematics is something that we want all pupils to acquire, or rather to continue acquiring throughout their school lives, and beyond. Teaching for mastery is already well advanced at St William of York, and it forms a key part of work within the Maths Hubs Programme.
Maths Mastery
Mastering maths means acquiring a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of the subject. At any one point in a pupil’s journey through school, achieving mastery is taken to mean acquiring a solid enough understanding of the maths that’s been taught to enable him or her to move on to more advanced material. It does not require children to accelerate on to the next year’s content of work, but rather develop a much deeper understanding of the current content.
In order to effectively teach for mastery, the following are essential:
- High expectations for every child
- Fewer topics covered in greater depth
- Number sense and place value come first
- Problem solving is central
- Challenge is provided through an increased depth, rather than acceleration of content
White Rose Maths
At St William of York Primary School, we follow the White Rose Scheme of learning to ensure children have a full understanding of mathematical concepts, methods, and relationships between the different areas of Maths, such as addition, subtraction, division and multiplication. We understand the importance of children knowing more than isolated, number facts and methods.
Children at St William of York are encouraged to express their mathematical reasoning. We understand that mathematical language is crucial to children’s thinking and understanding. Key language and stem sentences are displayed on learning walls to promote reasoning during lessons and to support children to justify their thinking.
The White Rose Maths scheme of learning follows the national curriculum with a mastery approach to maths with a range of fluency, reasoning and problem solving elements. They also encourage concrete, pictorial and abstract representations to develop deep understanding of mathematical concepts.
Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract Approach (CPA)
In order for children to become fluent with number and master mathematics, we use the CPA approach.
- Concrete: The concrete stage is the ‘doing’ stage. This brings concepts to life by allowing children the experience of handling physical objects.
- Pictorial: The pictorial stage, is the ‘seeing’ stage. This is when children are encouraged to visualise concrete experiences and draw representations of these.
- Abstract: The abstract stage is the ‘symbolic’ stage. This is when children use mathematic symbols to model problems.
Additional Resources
As a school, we subscribe to the following online platforms to support and consolidate children's mathematical fluency:
For further information about our maths curriculum, please see the planning documents below.