Maths

At Lamberhurst St Mary’s Primary School, we aspire that every pupil develops a love of maths and approaches this subject with positivity and confidence.  We aim to develop a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject and provide a carefully planned programme for progression, which will enable pupils to feel successful, stimulated and challenged.

Pupils in Year 1 to Year 6 follow the White Rose Maths Curriculum which provides a consistent progression of representations, strategies and methods used throughout their journey through KS1 and KS2. 

We believe that pupils should develop a deep understanding of Mathematical concepts and therefore may spend longer on some concepts if required. 

Gaps in learning are prevented through carefully sequenced ‘small steps’ of learning which allow children to build upon prior knowledge. 

Pupil understanding is assessed within the lesson so that same-day intervention is in place to support learning, with additional practise where needed. 

Those pupils who grasp the concepts more quickly are given opportunities to deepen their understanding and improve their reasoning skills rather than accelerating on to new curriculum content.

In EYFS (Reception Class), our priority is building a secure number sense and a deep understanding of numbers to 10.  Subitising is where pupils instantly recognise numbers of objects without counting them e.g.  the dots on a dice or on dominoes.

We follow NCETM’s Mastering Number scheme, which provides a clear progression and opportunities for pupils to explore the composition of numbers.  This in-depth knowledge of number will support pupils as they move onto early calculation strategies.

In KS1, we build upon the number sense they have developed in EYFS – progressively applying this to mental calculation strategies.  Although Years 1 and 2 follow the White Rose Maths Curriculum, pupils also complete additional 10-minute Mastering Number sessions each week.

In KS2, as pupils progress through the maths curriculum, there is a focus on formal written methods and the application of these skills to mathematical problems.

The correct use of mathematical vocabulary is essential for developing understanding and reasoning in Maths.  This begins in EYFS and builds as pupils progress through the curriculum.

A key feature of our mastery maths teaching is the concrete pictorial abstract (CPA) approach, where pupils are initially introduced to new concepts through the use of concrete resources.  Once pupils are confident with a concept using concrete resources, they progress to using and drawing pictorial representations or quick sketches of the objects.  By doing this, they are no longer manipulating the physical resources, but are still benefiting from the visual support the resources provide.  Once pupils have a secure understanding of the concept through the use of concrete resources and visual images, they are then able to move on to the abstract.

Examples of some of the resources, also known as ‘manipulatives’, we use at Lamberhurst St Mary’s to aid conceptual understanding:

Numicon	Diennes	Place value charts &  counters	Bar Models	Rekenreks

Ultimately, we want to guide our pupils to become independent and confident mathematicians, with the skills to achieve and continue their success in education and beyond.

 Resources

Timestables Rockstars

 Times Tables Rock Stars is a maths programme that takes all the worry out of learning times tables and has a proven track record of boosting children’s fluency and recall in multiplication and division.  It is suitable for all learners aged 6 years and up, the question-based games automatically adapt to each child’s unique learning needs, helping them to recall their times tables in record speed.      

Numbots Game

 Numbots is a fun and engaging programme that helps pupils understand, recall and develop fluency in mental addition and subtraction.  It takes pupils through subitising numbers to number bonds and onto addition and subtraction.

 White Rose Maths

 Multiplication Tables Check

Click here for information on the 2023 multiplication tables check for Year 4: