Being numerate is an essential part of everyday life. At St Teresa's we want our children to understand and be part of the world around them. We want our children to successfully use and apply their mathematical knowledge to real-life situations. Our aim is for all children to be fluent in calculating and manipulating numbers, to reason and problem solve mathematically, as well as to develop a curiosity and love of the subject.

We believe all of our children are mathematicians.

Key Stage One children start each day, before registration, with "4 a day" maths. This is a short and sharp activity to consolidate and revisit previous learning. Questions are devised in a style that builds support for children over Year One and Year Two in preparation for the end of Key Stage One maths SATs papers.

Time is spent each day counting forwards and backwards in different steps and starting from different numbers. This aids fluency in calculating.

Key Stage One children have a daily maths lesson. Over the year they will be taught number and place value; addition, subtraction, multiplication and division; fractions; measurement; geometry and statistics(Y2). Opportunities are constantly given for children to reason, problem solve and investigate. We encourage children to learn from mistakes, grapple with problems and explain their thinking.

We use the concrete, pictorial, abstract approach to teaching.

Concrete is the “doing” stage, using concrete objects and manipulatives to model problems, to support the learning of new concepts and aid thinking. For example, if a problem is about adding up two baskets of apples the children might first handle actual fruit before progressing to handling counters or cubes which are used to represent the fruit. A range of practical apparatus is used such as numicon, cuisenaire rods, cubes, counters and fingers.

Pictorial is the “seeing” stage, using representations of the objects to model problems. This stage encourages children to make a mental connection between the physical object and abstract levels of understanding by drawing or looking at pictures, diagrams or models which represent the objects in the problem. Children might draw the apples or representations of them. At this stage children will use number tracks, number lines and 100 squares.

Abstract is the “symbolic” stage, where children are able to confidently use abstract symbols to model problems. Once a child has demonstrated that they have a solid understanding of the “concrete” and “pictorial” representations of the problem they are then able to access “abstract” concepts, such as using mathematical symbols and notation, for example +, –, x, ÷ to indicate addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

Within the Early Years Foundation stage (EYFS) maths is one of the four specific areas. Each specific area is divided into Early Learning Goals, for maths these are:

• Numbers - children learn to count and the value of numbers, higher and lower. These skills support them to solve problems, use money and calculate more or less.
• Shape, Space and Measure - these skills support children to understand size, weight, capacity, position, distance, time and money and compare quantities, objects and solve problems.

Children learn about maths through play and their daily experiences. The more meaningful to them and ‘hands on’ it is, the better.

In Foundation Stage maths is a key focus in each area - classroom; Winter Garden; outdoors. Each area is full of mathematical opportunities and has exciting things for children to explore, sort, compare, count, calculate, describe and reason about. Children are also taught using numicon and a range of number tracks and lines. They are challenged and supported to be creative, critical thinkers, problem solvers and to ‘have a go’. 

Discrete teaching sessions on number, shape and measurement take place daily in small groups. Teachers also use the Numicon plans.

Every part of the day provides a wealth of opportunities for learning, for example snack time:

• when halving or quartering fruit, children state and compare how many pieces there are
• children compare whether the pieces are bigger or smaller than each other
• children may have a variety of foods and sort them onto plates, then compare similarities and differences, for example shape, size, weight
• children measure capacity when pouring drinks
• children calculate if there are enough chairs, plates or cups for everyone and how many more or less are needed
• children use a visual timetable to sequence the order of events and time.

We follow the School Improvement Liverpool plans for maths.

Parent Workshop Powerpoint