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Maths

At St Swithun’s, we aim to ensure all children leave their phase with a solid understanding of the key concepts and an ability to reason and problem solve in these areas. Using the national curriculum to instruct the content, teachers work to create engaging and progressive units which ensure there is good coverage of the statutory objectives.

Maths is taught 9/10 days over a fortnight and follows the concrete, pictorial and abstract model so that children can fully understand mathematical concepts and forge their own links between learning. To support the concrete stage of learning, we use a range of practical resources to give structure to numbers; this includes Numicon, dienes, Cuisinaire, place value counters and many more. To help children develop their pictorial representations of numbers and concepts, they are encouraged to draw their understanding and represent it in many different ways.

A particular focus in maths is increasing children’s ability to solve calculations using mental arithmetic. As well as helping children across more areas of the curriculum more easily, it provides children with the mathematical skills they will use throughout their lives. This looks different in each year group but aims towards common goals: helping children see connections within different mathematical areas, ensuring they are fluent with their known facts and have a range of mental strategies they can use. 

In addition to the ability to logically work through all calculations and problems, using a range of practical resources and written strategies, the children are encouraged to develop their ability to reason and explain their thoughts verbally, through written explanations and through showing understanding pictorially.

At St Swithun’s, we are determined to provide children with engaging, practical lessons that allow them to learn and use essential mathematical skills needed throughout their lives. This includes providing cross-curricular opportunities for maths in geography and science.

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