Mathematics
At St Joseph's, we follow a Maths Mastery Approach to the teaching of Mathematics.
Mastery of mathematics is something that we want all pupils to acquire, or rather to continue acquiring throughout their school lives, and beyond. Teaching for mastery is well advanced in St Joseph's, and it forms a key part of work within the Maths Hubs Programme.
Mastering maths means acquiring a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of the subject. At any one point in a pupil’s journey through school, achieving mastery is taken to mean acquiring a solid enough understanding of the maths that’s been taught to enable him/her move on to more advanced material. It does not require children to accelerate on to the next year’s content of work, but rather develop a much deeper understanding of the current content.
In July 2016, the DfE announced new funding, totalling £41m over four years, to support teaching for mastery. This money is being channelled through Maths Hubs on several linked projects, designed to build on the successes of work that started in Maths Hubs in autumn 2014.
One of these projects was the China-England Exchange. Miss Doherty travelled to Shanghai and spent two weeks working alongside maths teachers in China.
Since then, the work of the Maths Hubs have continued to flourish and there have been many more opportunities for the China-England Exchange.
Miss Watson, our Maths Lead, has been working with the Maths Hubs for the past three years. She is continuing to work alongside colleagues to develop the understanding of conceptual and procedural fluency and sharing the information with staff at St Joseph's at regular staff meetings.
Our staff use Whiterose Maths to support their planning and the sequence of lessons each week. Please take a look at the Progression Document below to see how Whiterose corresponds to the National Curriculum.
Times Tables Rock Stars is a carefully sequenced programme of daily times tables practice that has very successfully boosted times tables knowledge worldwide.
Here at St Joseph’s we have a school subscription to Times Tables Rock Stars and each pupil has their own individual login that enables this platform to be accessed from home. Please ensure your child has their login – this can be provided by their class teacher – and is making use of this fantastic maths resource.
In order to login, please follow the link and enter the school post code, SE8 3PH, alongside the username and password allocated to your child.