Maths Intent
 

At St Peter’s Catholic Primary School, we want all children to develop into confident and competent mathematical thinkers and be able to apply their mathematical knowledge in a range of challenging and stimulating situations. Our aim is that all children develop a positive and confident attitude towards mathematics, and reach their full potential as mathematicians.

The national curriculum for mathematics aims to ensure that all pupils:

• Become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including the varied and regular practice of increasingly complex problems over time.
• Reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, understanding relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language.
• Can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.

Mathematics is an interconnected subject in which pupils need to be able to move fluently between mathematical ideas. The programmes of study are, by necessity, organised into distinct areas, but pupils will make rich connections across mathematical ideas to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competence in solving increasingly sophisticated problems. They will also apply their mathematical knowledge to science and other subjects. The expectation is that the majority of pupils will move through the programmes of study at broadly the same pace. However, decisions about when to progress will always be based on the security of pupils’ understanding and their readiness to progress to the next stage. Pupils who grasp concepts rapidly will be challenged through being offered rich and sophisticated problems to develop mastery before any acceleration through new content. Those who are not sufficiently fluent with earlier material will consolidate their understanding, including additional practice, before moving on.

At St. Peter’s our objectives in the teaching of mathematics are: 

• to promote enjoyment of learning through practical activity, exploration and discussion;
• to develop confidence and competence with numbers and the number system through rapid recall;
• to develop their conceptual understanding in order to solve problems through decision making and reasoning in a range of contexts; 
• to develop a practical understanding of the ways in which information is gathered and presented
• to help children understand the importance of mathematics in everyday life.