Maths

Curriculum statement for Mathematics at Chorleywood Primary School 

At Chorleywood Primary School, we are committed to providing our children with a curriculum that has a clear intention and impacts positively upon their needs.  It is designed to help pupils remember long term content and integrate new knowledge by coherently sequencing learning so that knowledge is cumulatively secured over time.

National Curriculum Intent

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

 1. 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 (Declarative/Procedural knowledge)

2. Reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language (Conditional knowledge)

3. Can 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. Mathematics is an interconnected subject in which pupils need to be able to move fluently between representations of mathematical ideas (Conditional knowledge)

The programmes of study are, by necessity, organised into apparently distinct domains, but pupils should make rich connections across mathematical ideas to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competence in solving increasingly sophisticated problems, developing their conditional knowledge.  Our curriculum ensures children apply mastery skills.

Chorleywood Curriculum Intent

When teaching mathematics at Chorleywood Primary, we intend to provide a curriculum which caters for the needs of all individuals and sets them up with the necessary skills and knowledge for them to become successful in their future adventures. We aim to prepare them for a successful working life. We incorporate sustained levels of challenge through varied and high quality activities with a focus on fluency, reasoning and problem solving.   A wide range of mathematical resources are used and pupils are taught to show their workings in a concrete, pictorial and abstract form wherever suitable. They are taught to explain their choice of methods and develop their mathematical reasoning skills. We encourage resilience, adaptability and acceptance that struggle is often a necessary step in learning. Our curriculum allows children to better make sense of the world around them relating the pattern between mathematics and everyday life. We follow the White Rose maths scheme, with a range of other resources used to extend fluency, reasoning and problem solving. They should 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 should always be based on the security of pupils’ understanding and their readiness to progress to the next stage. Pupils who grasp concepts rapidly should be challenged through being offered rich mastery and sophisticated problems before any acceleration through new content. Those who are not sufficiently fluent with earlier material should consolidate their understanding, including through additional practice, before moving on.