Intent

The maths curriculum at Sutton Courtenay gives children strong foundations for mathematical curiosity and understanding through their lives.  It enables them to see joy and excitement in spotting patterns and making connections. The curriculum provides coherence from Early Years to Year 6, particularly regarding the models and representations children use to develop their conceptual understanding and explain this to others. Challenge and depth are provided for all, with greater depth for rapid graspers and appropriate support for those who need it.  Our maths curriculum is designed to meet the National Curriculum aims to balance fluency, reasoning and problem-solving skills.  A strong thread of developing children’s oracy to articulate their learning and thinking links maths to the wider curriculum. 

Implementation

Our curriculum is built around White Rose resources - a scheme which is approved by the Department for Education and National Council of Teachers of Mathematics - but adapted to meet the specific needs of our children. It draws on expertise and additional resources from the NCETM. We work alongside the Maths Mastery Lead and maths teaching experts from the primary and senior schools within the Ridgeway Education Trust to plan, implement, assess and review our bespoke curriculum.  Staff are continuously improving their practice through training and their own research. The school has participated in the NCETM Maths Mastery program for the past four years and the Mastering Number KS1 program since it began. In 2023-2024 we will be participating in Mastering Number KS2.

Our curriculum is therefore based on White Rose but also adapted with the addition of: 

• extra resources to promote number fact retrieval and fluency in arithmetic. 

• the adaptation of the scheme to focus on specific models and representations in a deliberate, cumulative way as they move through the year groups in our school context. 

• the planned use of core representations across more areas of maths as they move through Foundation, Key Stage 1 and 2, preparing children well for the transition to Key Stage 3. 

• the development of opportunities to create challenge for all pupils, including those who have SEND or are slower to grasp concepts, through the use of additional materials such as those available from NCETM. 

• adaptations to ensure pupils meet the “ready to progress criteria” which identify the most important conceptual knowledge and understanding that pupils need as they progress from Year 1 to Year 6 and beyond. 

As with all curriculum development, we are seeking to provide the best possible teaching and learning for our children and so are on a journey, as a Trust, which we feel proud of. 

Impact

Regular reviews of teaching, learning and progress are made through classroom observations, learning walks, book reviews, data analysis from summative assessments and child interviews. There is a culture of open and active discussion amongst teaching and support staff in staff meetings and informally. Our knowledge of children’s learning is informed by:

• The children’s responses in lessons – their engagement with activities and the depth of their response to challenging questions.
• The development of children’s recorded responses.
• Evidence of children’s growing knowledge that informs their strategies and reasoning, and their ability to justify these both orally and in written form as they get older.
• Formal assessments three times a year against year group objectives.
• A summative response is used at the end of the year in reports