St Nicolas' Church of England Infant School
Living life in all its fullness
Mathematics
At St Nics’, maths is taught not only through maths lessons, but also through a range of cross-curricular experiences. Children are given the opportunity to practise, apply and embed the skills they have learnt over time and through practical and purposeful problem solving activities. Emphasis is placed on depth rather than acceleration, which means spending more time studying fewer skills to ensure children have mastered them, and are confident and secure enough to apply them in different contexts.
Our teaching is based upon three key principles:
- children should develop a conceptual understanding of the fundamentals of mathematics, in order to be able to fluently recall and apply their knowledge.
- children should be given opportunities to reason mathematically, explaining their thinking, selecting and applying appropriate strategies, investigating and making links in their learning and using mathematical knowledge and vocabulary to prove their solutions.
- children should learn to solve problems by applying their maths to a variety of problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.
Our aims in teaching mathematics are that all children will:
- enjoy the subject and learn with confidence and a sense of achievement
- acquire a high standard of proficiency including a range of mental and written calculation skills
- understand that maths can be applied and used to make sense of the real world
Maths at St Nics'
Information for Parents
Curriculum Evening
Maths Mind Set
There is also a commonly held belief that you are either good at Maths or not good at Maths, or that some people’s brains just work that way.
Any of these reasons can result in adults and children lacking confidence in Maths, which in turn means they are reluctant to have a go for fear of being wrong, and therefore will not make as much progress.
Using a growth mindset approach can really help to build Maths confidence so this does not become/remain a barrier to learning.
Below are some links to useful resources to help build Maths confidence.