Mathematics is a key life skill. Through our passion, deep knowledge and understanding of maths pedagogy and knowledge of how pupils learn maths, children will gain the knowledge and understanding to confidently use their skills to work within our world today.

The National Curriculum states that:

“Mathematics is a creative and highly inter-connected discipline that has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems.  It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment.  A high-quality mathematics education therefore 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 Southfields, we use the NCETM Curriculum Prioritisation Framework which provides coherent sequencing for the primary maths curriculum to support our planning and teaching.

We implement a concrete, pictorial and abstract approach to teach conceptual understanding and to support all learners to succeed in mathematics.

Lessons are planned carefully so that pupils can discover and explore concepts, share their ideas, collaborate and practice together. Children learn how to reason and solve problems regularly through the use of concrete resources, pictorial representations and abstract thinking.  

At the heart of this framework is the idea that all children can achieve and be successful mathematicians with the right growth mindset.  Teachers break the learning into small chunks that progressively build on cohesively to inspire and motivate children.  

As with everything we do, our Mathematics is supported by communication and vocabulary development.  To ensure that children can make good or better progress, we spend a high percentage of time discussing  elements to think mathematically, choral rehearse key learning, use question stems to promote deeper thinking.  

Within each classroom you will see a 'Working Wall' that displays the language the children are currently focusing on along with the area of Mathematics they are studying. As this is a Mastery approach, the children will spend more time repeating and practising their learning to ensure that it embeds into their long-term memory and therefore are able to apply across other areas of the curriculum.

We proudly work with the Cambridge Maths Hub and a cluster of schools to sustain Teaching for Mastery principles.

Our mathematics lead is a Mastery Specialist and Local Leader of Mathematics Education working with other specialists across the region and beyond at a national level to enhance the learning and unfold the maths for all children.