Our Maths Subject Leader

Mrs Gibson-Crone

Intent

 

Implementation

At St. Joseph’s we teach maths daily following the National Curriculum. We use the White Rose Small Steps guidance to ensure lessons are pitched appropriately and consistently across the school. 

We use retrieval and recall activities to ensure pupils retain a rich network of mathematical knowledge and skills. 

 

Implementation

We are committed to providing a motivating and challenging maths curriculum that is accessible to all and links the use of mathematics across a range of subjects, adding meaning to the learning of maths. Our whole school approach to the teaching and learning of maths involves the following; 

  • Our maths planning is based on Schemes of Learning from White Rose Maths and enhanced by a wide range of resources. This ensures a progressive and thorough curriculum in every year group. Teachers know which objectives must be taught and assessed in each year group and can follow progressive small steps to ensure pupils have a comprehensive understanding of maths. 
  • We use ‘Mastering Number’ from NCETM, which aims to secure firm foundations in the development of good number sense. Attention will be given to key knowledge and understanding needed to support success in the future.
  • For pupils who may struggle or possibly ‘fall behind’ with parts of the curriculum, in class support is provided on a daily basis. Additionally, post teaching and consolidation is provided to ensure they are ready for the next lesson. Alternatively, the teacher will use their professional judgement and expertise to alter the following lesson or retrieval task.
  • Oracy and the use of mathematical vocabulary is promoted through encouraging children to explain their thinking, strategies and mistakes during lessons to embed understanding and to support peer on peer learning as children learn well from peers. 
  • During lessons, we encourage children to self-mark. After activities, the whole class discusses answers, strategies and mistakes. This provides children with immediate feedback and time to reflect on their learning. Mistakes are discussed and correction time given as part of a lesson. Children respond well to this and learn well from their mistakes. We see assessment as an integral part of the teaching process and strive to make our assessment purposeful, allowing us to match the correct level of work to the needs of the pupils, thus benefiting the pupils and ensuring confidence and progress. 

Lesson Pedagogy

We have worked closely with the Maths Hub to create a forward-thinking lesson pedagogy with the aim of reducing cognitive load and deepening thinking.

Each maths lesson follows a carefully designed sequence that supports pupils in developing fluency, reasoning, and problem-solving skills. Our approach is grounded in evidence-informed practice and ensures that learning is broken into manageable steps, reducing cognitive load and building confidence.

1. Basic Skills - Lessons begin with a focus on basic skills. These are selected by the teacher based on gaps identified in pupils’ knowledge, using the progression map as a guide.

2. Goal-Free Problem - Pupils are presented with a visual or numerical stimulus, such as a graph, a set of numbers, or a collection of shapes, without a specific question. They discuss what they notice and what the information might represent, encouraging curiosity and mathematical thinking.

3. New Learning - The main learning objective is introduced. Key vocabulary is shared and discussed to support understanding.

4. Recall – Fluency - Using the I do, we do, you do model, pupils practise the new skill in a structured and supportive way to build fluency.

5. Skills & Concept - The I do, we do, you do approach is repeated. Pupils apply their learning to solve problems, deepening their understanding and developing problem-solving skills.

6. Strategic Thinking - The complexity increases again as pupils tackle more challenging problems, including reasoning and multi-step tasks. The I do, we do, you do model continues to guide learning.

7. Reflection - Pupils reflect on the key learning of the lesson. The teacher supports them in assessing their understanding and evaluating whether they have met the learning objective.

8. Next - The lesson ends with a short pre-teaching session to introduce the topic of the next lesson, helping pupils prepare and build anticipation for future learning.

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Impact

  • Confident children who are challenged and engaged in their mathematical learning
  • Children who can talk about Maths and their learning and the links between Mathematical topics
  • Lessons that use a variety of resources to support learning

Professional Development 

As a school, we continually seek out ways to improve our teaching of Maths by taking part in regular professional development, working on projects with national bodies (National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM), and implementing evidence based research from the Education Endowment Fund as well as participating in Intensive Support and attending a Teacher Research Group (TRG) within the Archimedes NE Maths Hub.