What does Mathematics look like at Sabden? 

Our vision is to inspire an enjoyment of mathematics through positive attitudes, curiosity and discovery. Our aim is to equip all our pupils with a high-quality mathematics education that excites and engages them and develops confident, skilled mathematicians who understand that maths is a fundamental part of everyday life and the world we live in.

The language of mathematics is international, the beauty and power of maths are integral to the world around us. As a school, we focus on mastering maths. This means our children acquire and achieve a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of the subject. Becoming fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, with regular and challenging problems, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately. 

How do we implement Mathematics at Sabden?

At Sabden Primary School, we use the White Rose Mixed Age Mastery Maths Scheme to support learning and teaching. We have selected this because it is sequenced coherently to support mixed-age learning. This scheme allows teachers to teach the whole class (mixed age), allowing more time to develop children’s conceptual understanding. It offers more opportunity to identify gaps in understanding and address these quickly. Children revisit topics on a termly basis, building on their prior learning and moving towards clear end-of-year expectations. This allows children to apply their number knowledge in different contexts to build strong connections within mathematics and appreciate the subject’s relevance to real life. It also supports children in transferring their learning to long-term memory in order to unconsciously recall and apply it in different situations, including in different curriculum subjects. This scheme is supplemented by Mastering Number from the NCETM in Years 1–6 to support number automaticity. This is taught as a single year group.

In Early Years, White Rose Mastery Maths is used for Reception and Nursery. It is supplemented by Mastering Number from the NCETM. This provides end-of-year expectations for the whole mathematics curriculum to ensure children are ready to access the National Curriculum in Year 1. This learning is organised into progressive steps that build a coherent sequence of learning across the year. It begins in the autumn term with children being immersed in the numbers 1–5, in which children develop a deep understanding of each number, including composition and how these numbers relate to each other, whilst also having elements of shape, space and measure interwoven. This is then built on through spring and summer, resulting in the Statutory framework for EYFS being covered.   

The expectation is that all children will move through the content of our curriculum (in all Key Stages) at broadly the same pace. We maintain high expectations of all children and provide support and challenge as appropriate throughout all lessons and sequences of learning.

In some circumstances, children may follow a separate curriculum based on individual needs that will be detailed in their Individual Education Plans or EHCPs. However, this curriculum would still mirror the coherent and progressive sequences of learning for the other children in a different year group.

The mathematics curriculum is enriched at Sabden Primary School through various events, including Forest School activities as well as other special events such as World Maths Day on the 14^th March each year and Maths Week England.