A high-quality mathematics education provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.
At St. Richard Reynolds, we have adopted a mastery approach in order to deliver the three aims of the National Curriculum, fluency, reasoning and problem solving. Underpinning this pedagogy is a belief that all children can achieve in maths. We believe in promoting sustained and deepening understanding by employing a variety of mastery strategies, with teaching for conceptual understanding at the heart of everything we do. Our approach aims to provide all children with full access to the curriculum, enabling them to develop independence, confidence and competence – ‘mastery’ in mathematics in order to be independent mathematicians who are well equipped to apply their learning to the wider world.
We follow the NCETM (National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Maths) scheme of learning and use their lesson resources. Our maths leaders have undertaken maths mastery training with the NCETM, and the NCETM curriculum resources support us in our teaching for mastery approach across the school. While we aim to broadly follow their lesson-by-lesson overview, it is adapted to the needs of each class as required.
Alongside the NCETM scheme, each year group uses the DfE’s new guidance on ‘ready to progress criteria’. This shows each year group what the core concepts are and hence what they need to devote most teaching time to, so that pupils can access new learning in the next school year.
The NCETM skills progression maps show what is covered in each year group at St. Richard Reynolds.