Maths

This page was updated: September 2022
Next update due: September 2023
Subject Lead: Conrad Ash

As a cornerstone of our primary curriculum we, at John Ball, aim to support all children to become confident and creative mathematicians. Our teaching approaches are designed to support children to notice the key links and the interconnectivity of this vast subject area. There are five facets that are integral to our approach of subject area they are:

• To be fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics; this includes written calculation strategies and basic number facts such as number bonds or times tables.
• To be able to reason mathematically; by following a line of enquiry and using accurate mathematical language to explain ones ideas. This often takes the form of talk maths lessons or collaborative maths sessions.
• To gain confidence when problem solving; quite simply there would be no fun without pitting our wits against a problem. Much of the problem solving work we do at John Ball is based on discussion and links directly to our aim of reasoning mathematically. Children in every year group are exposed to open ended problems that require creativity along with mathematical understanding. We take great pride in our children’s ability to not only solve problems but create them (mathematical problems obviously) and many of our math displays reflect the investigative approach that allows our children to see themselves as mathematicians.
• To have a strong understanding of mental maths strategies; in many cases this will be the most useful mathematical tool that we can supply our children with. To help our children adopt mental approaches we use many visual models as well as physical movement to understand the relationship between numbers and the four operations.
• To play; we always aim to have an element (or a whole heap) of playing within our maths curriculum. It is essential to move our children away from the ‘old school’ view of mathematics, ‘that it is for a select few’. It is through playing with mathematical ideas that we are able to engage a wide range of children into this fascinating and rewarding subject.

Our aim is for children to become confident mathematicians who choose to challenge themselves at every opportunity.