Maths

At Bishop’s Castle Primary School, we have designed our Maths Curriculum to ensure that all children, regardless of background, will become fluent in the fundamentals of the subject, developing deep conceptual understanding and having the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately. Our intention is that children will be able to reason mathematically and describe their thinking, using accurate mathematical language, plus solve varied problems by applying their knowledge effectively. We aim to ensure that children will build mathematical resilience, persevering in seeking solutions to problems, with increasing sophistication. We will ensure that our maths teaching and learning activities are relevant, so that children can see how maths is being used to solve real problems, encouraging pupils to make rich connections across mathematical ideas and to link the subject to the wider school curriculum and their future lives.

Maths holds numerous opportunities for children to learn experientially, work independently and with others, widen their horizons, develop communication and language skills, plus explore their own creativity. It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment, so our intention is to provide all pupils with a high-quality mathematics education which will act as a foundation for their understanding of the world.

Children are encouraged to try varied approaches and learn from their mistakes, innovating and taking risks when problem-solving. We expect children to evaluate their mathematical approaches and solutions and consider improvements, continually striving to become the best at maths they can and be rightly proud of their achievements.

The expectation is that the majority of pupils will move through the programmes of study at broadly the same pace. However, some pupils will inevitably not be sufficiently fluent with earlier material and for those children we aim to consolidate their understanding, through additional practice, before moving on. On the other hand, some pupils might grasp concepts more rapidly and we will aim to challenge these pupils through offering rich and sophisticated problems based on age-appropriate content before considering any acceleration through new content. We aim to foster an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.