Mathematics

‘Mathematics offers powerful ways of thinking about the world’

(Putnam, Lampert and Peterson 1990)

At the heart of Mathematical teaching lies a fundamental component and that is to prepare our students for our ever changing world. At St Mary’s we believe in developing each student as a lifelong learner. We provide students with daily opportunities to experience, investigate, conjecture, reason logically and apply Mathematical skills, knowledge and understandings in real life contexts.

We understand how children learn and we place the child at the centre and forefront of our teaching. At St Mary’s we provide ongoing opportunities that are rich in assessment. We identify each student’s strengths and challenges and use this to inform and drive our teaching. Our differentiated and personalised approach to Mathematics is built on students’ prior knowledge and it enables us to cater for individual needs.

At St Mary’s we provide an engaging, meaningful and purposeful Mathematics curriculum and we value the use of hands-on materials within context. We understand that this allows

students to make generalisations and develop their Mathematical thinking. We provide a resource rich learning environment that allows students to construct meaning through experience. In every Mathematics session students are expected to justify and reflect on their thinking. We understand that explicit and visible learning and teaching enables students to grow and succeed and we value the power of feedback and reflection in directing future learning.

Maths Pathways

Maths Pathway is a contemporary approach to Learning and Teaching that eliminates a “one-sized fits all model.”

This exciting programme is offered to our Year 5 and 6 students. It enables teachers to personalise and differentiate Mathematics learning for each student so that they can learn content they are ready for and complete work that is targeted to their individual needs.

Embedded within Maths Pathway are opportunities for students to engage in individual and small group work, ongoing assessment, rich learning, project work, ongoing feedback sessions as well as goal setting. Maths Pathway builds each student’s capacity to be an independent learner and in every session students have access to a digital device.