How we teach Maths at                Wordsworth Primary School

At Wordsworth, we use a Teaching for Mastery approach to ensure that our pupils develop a deep, secure and adaptable understanding of mathematics. Our maths curriculum is designed to ensure a coherent and detailed sequence of essential content to support sustained progression over time. We teach maths through a process of modelling, guided practice, applying and deepening, using a variety of concrete and pictorial representations to support a conceptual understanding of the subject.

Children are taught to make independent use of concrete and pictorial resources to support their understanding, and to use mathematical vocabulary to explain their thinking. Problem solving skills are clearly modelled and taught to enable children to tackle problems independently. Our pupils develop mathematical learning behaviours such that they can engage fully as learners who reason and make mathematical connections.

Maths forms a key part of the Spiritual, Moral, Social & Cultural (SMSC) learning our pupils develop, as they leave Wordsworth as confident mathematicians who are ready to take on the wider world. Teachers actively foster mathematical links to other subjects, such as scientific data or financial literacy, and enable pupils to apply their mathematical fluency to a wide array of contexts.

What you will see in the classrooms:

• Explicit modelling of skills and knowledge
• Use of concrete, pictorial and abstract representations of number
• Teaching of key mathematical vocabulary
• A high level of mathematical dialogue between teachers and pupils
• Scaffolds and guided practice to support children’s understanding
• Small step progression in conceptual understanding as children move through the school
• Independent practice to develop pupil automaticity