Subject Intent
Mathematics is a crucial yet creative discipline that allows children and adults alike to understand the world as a universal language. We strive to engage children in the beauty, power and logical thinking that mathematics has to offer so that they become successful people of the world.
At North Town, our aim is to develop a child’s love of mathematics and allow all children to become fluent mathematicians. We nurture a child’s enjoyment of the subject by allowing all pupils to achieve in every lesson and ensure that their self-confidence in their abilities is continually growing. Children at North Town are provided with the tools to be able to explain their learning to others. Our teachers provide engaging lessons that will allow pupils to master mathematical content in multiple ways. This also includes the use of technology and digital resources that enhance and supplement children’s mathematical experiences.
We have adopted, and where needed adapted, the White Rose approach and use the small steps provided as the building blocks for our children’s mathematical understanding. Our teachers consistently embed the concrete, pictorial, abstract (CPA) approach to allow our children to access each of these stages within the small steps of learning.
We understand the importance of mathematical fluency and dedicate regular time to allow children to practice their number bond and times table skills so that this knowledge may transfer from their working memory into their long-term memory. This provides children with more space in their working memory to reason mathematically and solve the increasingly rich and challenging problems that are a consistent part of our curriculum.
We agree with the National Curriculum that children should:
- 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 - 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.
We understand that there is not a singular way to provide children with a high-quality mathematics education. However, through providing engaging and enjoyable lessons that give children the confidence to achieve whilst focussing on the fundamentals of mathematics, we feel that North Town will provide children with the right tools to become happy and able mathematicians.