At The Cambridge Primary School, we believe that all children should enjoy and feel confident in maths. Please read our Maths policy, Maths Skills progression document and Year Group specific Calculation Policies (attached at the bottom of this page) for more information.

Intent

At the Cambridge Primary School, we intend for pupils to develop a love of maths, enjoy the excitement, and challenge that problem solving brings. We use a maths mastery approach (White Rose Maths) to deliver active and engaging teaching that promotes curiosity, creativity, resilience and growth mind-set. Learning is put into real life context, where possible, to help children understand the role of mathematics in the world around them and encourage them to become lifelong learners. Maths is taught whole class across the school, but support and challenge are built into learning to ensure that learning is accessible for all. Maths fluency is a key aspect of the maths curriculum and is taught discreetly and daily, in addition to maths lessons, to develop, strength and extend the children’s fluency skills, so they are not a barrier in problem solving exercises.  

Implementation

We want our children to know that mathematics teaches us how to make sense of the world around us through developing our ability to calculate, to reason and to solve problems. It enables us to understand and appreciate relationships and pattern in both number and space in our everyday lives. Through our growing knowledge and understanding, we learn to appreciate the contribution made by many people to the development and application of mathematics. 

A Cambridge pupil will be brave, using appropriate methods to be curious, and a growth mind-set to solve problems. They are equipped with a range of innovative methods to resolve problems with more than one-step and use prior knowledge to support their enquiries and explain their methods and thinking process. They have developed resilience to face challenges and embraced that they learn through making mistakes. They take ownership in justifying their reasoning and are open to work collaboratively to investigate number and prove their understanding. 

Impact

When children leave the Cambridge Primary, they will have the following key skills; 

• To approach problems with a ‘can do’ attitude and resilience whilst applying skills using prior knowledge 

• Become confident in the fundamentals of mathematics, developing conceptual knowledge and an ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately 

• Use a wide range of models, visual manipulatives and practical resources to develop a deep understanding alongside procedural fluency 

• Use reasoning skills to be curious and investigate number  

• Use and understand mathematical language and recognise its importance as a language for communication and thinking 

• To work collaboratively and independently to problem solve, discuss ideas and justify reasoning 

Spiritual, Moral, Social, and Cultural development in Maths

Spiritual: Pupils develop curiosity and appreciation for the beauty, pattern and structure of mathematics as they explore topics such as symmetry, shape, number sequences and algebra. They reflect on the patterns found in the natural world, the passage of time and the connections within mathematics, developing a sense of awe at how mathematics helps us understand the world around us.

Moral: Children explore concepts of fairness, honesty and responsibility through topics such as fractions, ratio, money and statistics. They learn the importance of using evidence to justify their reasoning, making informed decisions and understanding real-life issues such as equal sharing, budgeting and interpreting data critically.

Social: Mathematics lessons encourage collaborative learning through the White Rose mastery approach, where pupils discuss their thinking, explain their reasoning and solve problems together. Group investigations, practical activities and mathematical discussions help children develop confidence, resilience and respect for the ideas and contributions of others.

Cultural: Our curriculum celebrates the rich history of mathematics by exploring the contributions of different civilisations, including Roman numerals, Ancient Egyptian and Mayan number systems, and the development of the Hindu-Arabic number system. Pupils also investigate mathematical patterns from a range of cultures in other curriculum subjects, developing an appreciation of the role mathematics plays across different societies and throughout history.