Maths
“So teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
At St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, we believe mathematics is a God-given language that helps us understand the beauty, order, and patterns of His creation. Through our Maths Mastery approach, we ensure all pupils know more, remember more, and do more as they progress through the school.
Our curriculum is built on the belief that every child can succeed in mathematics. Using the White Rose Maths scheme alongside NCETM Mastery principles, learning is carefully sequenced in small, connected steps to develop deep understanding, confidence, and independence.
Our Catholic Ethos
We see mathematics as a reflection of God’s creativity and design. Through patterns, reasoning, and problem-solving, pupils develop perseverance, curiosity, and truth—living out Gospel values in their learning.
Curriculum Threads: Mathematical Concepts
Our curriculum ensures pupils develop fluency, reasoning, and problem-solving across key areas:
- Number – place value, addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, fractions, decimals, percentages, ratio and algebra
- Geometry – shape, position and direction
- Measurement – length, mass, capacity, time, money, area, perimeter and conversions
- Statistics
Pupils build:
- Conceptual understanding (knowing and understanding mathematical ideas)
- Procedural fluency (carrying out methods accurately and efficiently)
- Application (solving problems in a range of contexts)
Curriculum Threads: Teaching for Mastery
Our approach is guided by the Five Big Ideas of Mastery:
- Coherence – small, connected steps build deep understanding
- Representation and Structure – manipulatives and models expose mathematical relationships
- Mathematical Thinking – reasoning, explaining, and making connections
- Fluency – secure recall and flexible use of number facts
- Variation – carefully designed examples to deepen understanding
Lessons follow a Concrete–Pictorial–Abstract (CPA) approach, helping pupils see the maths before applying formal methods.
Implementation
Mathematics is taught through engaging, inclusive lessons that promote confidence and resilience:
- Whole-class teaching with high expectations for all
- Daily retrieval and fluency practice to secure long-term memory
- Precise mathematical language through talk and sentence stems
- Use of manipulatives (e.g. Numicon, Base 10, bar models)
- Opportunities for reasoning, explaining, and problem-solving in every lesson
- Support through scaffolding and challenge through depth, not acceleration
Impact
By the end of Year 6, pupils will:
- Be fluent in key number facts and calculation strategies
- Reason mathematically using clear and precise language
- Solve problems confidently in a range of contexts
- Make connections between mathematical concepts
- Show resilience, independence, and enjoyment in mathematics
- Recognise mathematics as both a life skill and a reflection of God’s order
Maths Day 2026
Maths Day – 21st May 🔢🎸
On 21st May, we enjoyed a fantastic Maths Day across the school! The children were invited to come dressed as rockstars, number-related characters or in their favourite colour, creating a brilliant and colourful atmosphere throughout the school.
Our younger children explored data handling by representing their favourite colours using patterns and bar charts, comparing how many children were in each colour group. Our older children got into the Rockstar spirit, dressing up as rockstars and number characters while developing their times tables skills through Times Tables Rock Stars.
Each class also explored a different maths-themed book, including Ten Little Dinosaurs, One Thing, Ten Delicious Teachers and 365 Penguins. The children delved into the mathematics hidden within these stories, discovering opportunities to explore number, counting, patterns, problem solving and much more. They also created some fantastic displays to showcase their learning.
A particular highlight of the day was welcoming The Problem Solving Company, who delivered an exciting problem-solving session with every class. The children worked together, discussed ideas and challenged themselves to find as many possible answers and solutions as they could. It was fantastic to see them persevering, thinking creatively and working so well as a team.
Overall, it was a hugely positive and enjoyable day, showing the children that maths really is everywhere – and can be great fun too!
A massive thank you to The Problem Solving Company for joining us and providing such engaging sessions. We are incredibly grateful for all your hard work in making Maths Day so memorable!