At Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Primary School we recognise that ‘high-quality’ mathematics education provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject (National Curriculum September 2014). 

Curriculum Intent

At Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Primary School, our vision is that pupils will leave the school with cultural capital - they will be equipped with the skills and knowledge needed to be successful in their future learning and beyond. Maths is a journey and long-term goal, achieved through exploration, clarification, practice and application over time. At each stage of learning, children should be able to demonstrate a deep, conceptual understanding of the topic and be able to build on this over time. Learning should be secure in all areas, where knowledge and understanding can be recalled, used, transferred and applied in different contexts.

We are committed to a rich Maths curriculum which affords pupils with opportunities to practically learn and experience a range of investigations and problems, particularly those related to real life contexts.Through our concrete, pictorial and abstract (CPA) approach to teaching the mathematics curriculum, children are able to discover mathematical connections and patterns between different concepts. 

Through frequent and varied practice, pupils will become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics and have the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately. This will develop children's conceptual understanding which they can then apply to solve increasingly complex problems. This will include breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.

Staff will enhance children’s mathematical language and reasoning skills through reinforcing key vocabulary and providing opportunities for collaborative discussion within their maths learning. This will help to ensure children feel confident in explaining their mathematical reasoning and use key vocabulary to support their justifications, arguments and generalisations.

Curriculum Implementation

• To develop fluency in mathematics, children need to secure a conceptual understanding and efficiency in procedural approaches. It is important to make connections between concrete materials, models and images, mathematical language, symbolic representations and prior learning. Staff at OLQP adopt a Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract (CPA) approach to maths teaching and learning. Objects, pictures, words, numbers and symbols are vital for developing children's conceptual understanding. The mastery approach incorporates all of these to help children explore and demonstrate mathematical ideas, enrich their learning experience and deepen understanding. Together, these elements help cement knowledge so pupils truly understand what they’ve learnt. The CPA approach to teaching and learning ensures that learning moves forward as soon as a child is secure. 
• Through purposeful enquiry and a rich stimulating environment, pupils are given opportunities to explore, question and be challenged in order to develop a deeper understanding of mathematics. These opportunities are designed to provide pupils with a progression of mathematical understanding, skills, vocabulary and knowledge and become fluent in their recall and application of facts. Maths lessons also provide children with opportunities to quickly and consistently retrieve and use their previous learning of arithmetic facts.
• Discussions are a vital part of our lessons, both for teachers to model skills of reasoning, justifying and conjecturing and for children to be able to consolidate their learning through explanations. Discussions can also highlight misconceptions as well as being essential for building confidence in our children. Teachers are able to orchestrate productive classroom discussions. Pupils actively taking part in discussions supports the development of their mathematical vocabulary. Teachers use precise mathematical language themselves and support pupils to recognise mathematical structure, for example by rephrasing pupils’ responses that use vague, non-mathematical language. Pupils particularly enjoy discussing their reasoning during our weekly collaborative problem-solving investigations.
• At OLQP, we have 'Flashback Fridays' which enable pupils to revisit and recap different mathematical concepts which they have covered previously. This helps to eliminate any existing misconceptions and consolidates pupils' understanding as it is frequently revisited. These activities involve over-learning to ensure full understanding.
• Whole – school events are held, such as Maths Week and Number Day, to promote engagement and to raise the profile of Maths throughout the school. During these events, children explore the real world of maths and complete engaging, practical activities linked to real mathematical situations/contexts. 
• We follow the White Rose schemes of learning to plan and teach Mathematics and ensure that children have opportunities to practise the key skills whilst building the understanding and knowledge to apply these skills into more complex activities. However, no scheme is followed prescriptively and lessons are adapted to suit the needs of individual classes/pupils.

Curriculum Impact

A mathematical concept or skill has been mastered when a child can show it in multiple ways, using the mathematical language to explain their ideas, and can independently apply the concept to new problems in unfamiliar situations. 

We believe that these opportunities will ensure that our pupils are confident, life-long learners who will see the links between areas of Mathematics and be flexible in applying their knowledge and skills to a range of different contexts and ever challenging problems. In response to our teaching, we believe our children will be able to recall facts and procedures and explain their thinking using key mathematical language. Learners will develop detailed knowledge and skills across the curriculum which will enable them to achieve well and prepare them for the next stage in their education and beyond.

Our school follows the White Rose Maths scheme of learning and uses teaching materials from Master the Curriculum from Reception to Year 6. 

Miss Travers is the Maths subject lead for our school and Mrs Lindsay Smith is the Governor linked to Maths.  

Policies

Nursery

Curriculum Map - Years 1-6