Maths

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

Children will be encouraged to build and develop links across the different areas of mathematics and also apply their skills and mathematical knowledge in other areas of the curriculum such as science.

The expectation is that the majority of pupils will move through the programmes of study at broadly the same pace. However, decisions about when to progress will always be based on the security of pupils’ understanding and their readiness to progress to the next stage. Pupils who grasp concepts rapidly will be challenged through being offered rich and sophisticated problems before any acceleration through new content. Those who are not sufficiently fluent with earlier material will spend time consolidating their understanding before moving on.

Information and communication technology (ICT)

When appropriate, ICT will be used to support the teaching of mathematics at Belgrave Primary School. Calculators will be used at the end of KS2 once written methods are secure, to carry out and explore more complex problems.

Spoken language

The Belgrave curriculum for mathematics reflects the importance of spoken language in pupils’ development across the whole curriculum – cognitively, socially and linguistically. The quality and variety of language that pupils hear and speak are key factors in developing their mathematical vocabulary and presenting a mathematical justification, argument or proof. They will be encouraged to explain their thinking to others and discussion will often be used to probe and remedy their misconceptions.