Saint Edmunds Catholic Primary School

We have adopted a Teaching for Mastery approach to mathematics. The content and principles underpinning this approach reflect those found in high performing education systems internationally, particularly those of east and south-east Asian countries such as Singapore, Japan, South Korea and China. Though there are many differences between the education systems of England and those of east and south-east Asia, we can learn from the ‘mastery’ approach to teaching which has been proven to improve standards of Maths.

These principles and features characterise this approach and convey how our curriculum is implemented:

·        Teachers reinforce an expectation that all children are capable of achieving high standards in Mathematics.

·        The large majority of children progress through the curriculum content at the same pace.

·        Differentiation is underpinned by methodical curriculum design and supported by carefully crafted lessons and resources to foster deep conceptual and procedural knowledge.

·        Practice and consolidation play a central role. Carefully designed variation within this builds fluency and understanding of underlying mathematical concepts.

·        Teachers use precise questioning in class to test conceptual and procedural knowledge and assess children regularly to identify those requiring intervention, so that all children keep up.

To ensure consistency and progression, the school uses White Rose Maths resources which, alongside the school’s ongoing engagement with the DfE funded Maths Hubs programme continues to ensure that staff at all levels understand the pedagogy of the approach. 

 A strong emphasis is placed on developing fluency, problem solving and reasoning through small progressive steps to ensure all children understand the key ideas. Across all year groups, we follow medium term programmes of study (curriculum coverage maps) which map out the year’s curriculum across the terms.