St Vincent's Catholic Primary School

“How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!”
Psalm 133.1

Maths

Maths

Maths Curriculum Intent

Our intention is that all young Vincentians will experience success as a mathematician through fostering a love of learning for mathematics right from the Early Years through to Year 6.

Through refined planning and the delivery of a rich, balanced and progressive curriculum, skills acquired in the early years are built upon progressively through enquiry and an investigative learning approach to enable our children to be able to reason, problem solve and develop fluent conceptual understanding in each area of mathematics.

The children are encouraged to be independent learners through choice and challenge during lessons, developing competence and confidence in using and applying mathematical vocabulary, knowledge, concepts and skills.

Our aim is for all our children to be able to think mathematically, enabling them to be able to have the ability to solve problems, to reason, to think logically and to work systematically and accurately.

This equips our children with awareness of the relevance of Mathematics in the real world and have an ability to use and apply Mathematics in real life.

Key Stage One
The National Curriculum states that ‘the principle focus of mathematics in key stage 1 is to ensure that pupils develop confidence and mental fluency with whole numbers, counting and place value.’

Our teachers use a range of strategies to develop this understanding such as through games, practical activities and different ways of recording their learning. Children in key stage 1 will also study different shapes and use a range of measures such as length, time and money.

Lower Key Stage Two
The National Curriculum states that ‘the principle focus of mathematics teaching in lower key stage 2 is to ensure that pupils become increasingly fluent with whole numbers and the four operations, including number facts and the concept of place value.’

Our teachers ensure that our pupils develop their understanding of both written and mental methods to perform calculations accurately. Children in lower key stage 2 will also work with simple fractions and decimals, shapes and develop their accuracy when using measuring instruments.

Upper Key Stage Two
The National Curriculum states that ‘the principle focus of mathematics teaching in upper key stage 2 is to ensure that pupils extend their understanding of the number system and place value to include larger integers.’

Our teachers encourage the children to develop this understanding by making connections with other areas of mathematics such as fractions, decimals and percentages. The children in upper key stage two will begin to solve a wider range of problems where the children make links within their mathematical knowledge. They look in more detail at shape and measure, consequently extending their mathematical vocabulary.

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

  • become confident in all areas of mathematics, developing skills to solve increasingly difficult problems by using their mathematical skills in a number of different practical activities.
  • Be able to use correct mathematical language to explain their work.
  • To gain problems solving skills such as being able to break a problem down into smaller steps and persevering in finding answers.

Every class has a daily mathematics lesson and cross curricular opportunities are also explored through Science (e.g. graphs), Design and Technology (e.g. measuring) and Art (space and shape).

Maths National Curriculum Objectives

Click link above to download a copy of the Department of Education's Maths national curriculum objectives.

Curriculum Maps

Maths Curriculum Map 2023-24

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Curriculum Intent

At St Vincent’s it is our INTENT is to enable ALL children to thrive through the opportunities we provide them with, in order to:

  • Live their lives by the Gospel and Vincentian values instilled in them at school.
  • Understand that everyone has the right and responsibility to live in our world constructively and ensure that we leave it in a better state than when we entered it by living and working through the principles of Catholic Social Teaching in line with the UNCRC (United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child)
  • Experience creativity across the curriculum through specialist art and dance lessons and opportunities to take part in art, music, dance and creative writing competitions.
  • Know the joy of outdoor learning, the rich biodiversity within our school grounds and locality and develop a responsibility for the environment we share as stewards.
  • Understand their place in the world, globally and locally, knowing the history of our school, Mill Hill and the Daughters of Charity and knowing where our diverse community members have their roots across the world.
  • Be ready and well-prepared for their next steps in life, having high aspirations for themselves and for others because they have experienced success and a belief in learning from mistakes.
  • Have a life-long curiosity, stimulated by the driving questions of Project Based Learning approach to the curriculum fostering inquiry and independent learning skills, which give confidence to ask big questions about the world.
  • Be literate and numerate having experienced a rich variety of texts to stimulate and excite the mind while developing skills in investigating and problem solving to enable them to excel in their future passions.
  • Be confident and happy young people that have a broad understanding and tolerance of the world and others around them with excellent communication skills honed by their experience of Restorative Justice and respect of the dignity and wishes of the individual.

Curriculum Context

St Vincent’s is a 1.5 form entry school with 285 children ranging from 4 -11. Children come predominantly from the parishes of Sacred Heart in Mill Hill and St Anthony’s in Edgware.

Children come from a diverse range of socio-economic backgrounds, speak 17 different languages and hail from 26 different ethnic groups. The curriculum we present, and promote, to the children is an endeavour to reflect these differences by providing opportunities to explore the different countries, languages and customs our children are part of through the projects they investigate. We have looked closely at the context of our school, the backgrounds of the children and how life is for a child growing up in North London today. We have used the underlying principles of our Catholic Faith and the example of our namesake St Vincent to create a set of values which lie at the heart of our curriculum.

We are aware of the changing nature of society and the pressures faced by young children as they enter the next stage of their education. The rise in Mental Health related issues has been widely documented across the media. Therefore, issues such as internet safety and the enormous impact across society of social media are at the forefront of our minds when planning our curriculum. With the current worldwide concerns relating to Covid 19, racial justice, equality and diversity, as well as gender and economic background, we feel it is our duty to prepare the children through a concerted focus on building independence, resilience and communication skills linked to our Vincentian Values.