Maths

'So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom'

Psalm 90:12

We aspire for all pupils at Holy Family to experience the beauty, power and enjoyment of mathematics and develop a sense of curiosity about the subject.

At Holy Family, we foster positive ‘can do’ attitudes, believe all children can achieve in mathematics, and teach for secure and deep understanding of mathematical concepts. We use mistakes and misconceptions as an essential part of learning and provide challenge through rich and sophisticated problems before acceleration through new content.

Maths Intent

By the time our pupils leave Holy Family Catholic Primary School and Nursery, we will have equipped them with the necessary skills to become confident mathematicians. To enable our children to develop their skills in maths, we follow a mastery approach to maths, this ensures the teaching and learning is progressive in skills, knowledge and understanding in each year group across the school. We believe it is essential for our pupils to have a fluent knowledge and recall of number facts and the number system in order to provide a solid foundation for their mathematical journey.

We aim for all pupils to:

• Solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of problems with increasing sophistication, including in unfamiliar contexts and to model everyday real-life scenarios.
• Reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry and develop and present a justification, argument or proof using mathematical language.
• Have an appreciation of number and number operations, which enables mental calculations and written procedures to be performed efficiently, fluently and accurately.
• Apply the skills and knowledge learnt in mathematics to other subject areas.

Maths Implementation

A ‘mastery’ approach has been adopted and implemented at Holy Family Catholic Primary School and Nursery for the planning, delivery and engagement with mathematics. Our maths planning is based on the national curriculum statements and we use CanDo maths to give us our small manageable steps for daily teaching. The children are provided with two distinct sessions; the main lesson which focuses on a manageable step of new learning and the Maths on Track session which provides opportunities for arithmetic, multiplication tables, practice and consolidation and immediate intervention.

Mathematical language and vocabulary is clearly modelled by the teacher; this is supported by key vocabulary being displayed on maths working walls.

Maths Impact

As a result of teaching mathematics at Holy Family Catholic Primary and Nursery school, you will see:

• A positive ‘can do’ attitude towards mathematics and all children reaching their full potential.
• The impact of our mathematics curriculum is that children understand the relevance and importance of what they are learning in relation to real world concepts supporting consolidation and retention of knowledge and skill.
• Children are able to demonstrate a range of mathematical concepts, using concrete, pictorial and abstract representations.
• Confident pupils who develop age-appropriate understanding and knowledge and can talk with assurance about their learning.
• Children who approach mathematical study with enthusiasm and perseverance.
• The opportunity for children to build on prior knowledge and skills which allows them to access the next stage in their education.

Calculation Methods

Are you unsure about how to explain key calculation methods to your child?

Please click the following links where you will find examples of the calculation methods that we use in school for addition/subtraction and multiplication/division

You will find the methods taught in each year group for written methods, developing understanding, jottings/mental methods and also I just know it ideas.

Termly Key Instant Recall Facts

Every term the children have Key Instant Recall Facts to learn. The learning of these will be scaffolded in class, but we also ask that the parents support their children in learning them at home too.

The objectives of the KIRFs align with the new maths curriculum.

Please go to the Phase pages to view their termly KIRFs.

Phases: 1 and 2    3 and 4    5 and 6

Times Tables Rockstars

As a school, we subscribe to Times Tables Rock Stars which is a carefully sequenced programme of times tables practice.

The focus of Times Tables Rock Stars is to:

- Support children to learn their times tables and the associated division facts

- Increase the speed of multiplication recall

- Improve accuracy of multiplication recall

Last year Times Tables Rock Stars proved to be very popular with the children. Due to the success, we have now officially launched TTR! Your child has been given a log in and password to access their account. This can be accessed via https://play.ttrockstars.com/auth/school/student or via the Times Tables Rock Stars app which is free to download on both Apple and Android devices.