At The Russell School, we strive to teach a full and detailed mathematics curriculum. The children have a mathematics lesson every day. During these lessons they learn and consolidate skills and knowledge.

The teaching of mathematics at The Russell School is coherent, exciting, purposeful and engaging. Teachers promote a love of mathematics by planning inclusive, meaningful and engaging activities that slowly build and deepen the mathematical understanding of our children. They are given many opportunities to apply their mathematical knowledge outside of their maths lessons and across our innovative curriculum.

We teach mathematics so that our children develop their logical reasoning, problem-solving skills, creativity and the ability to think in abstract ways. Our children enjoy exploring and applying carefully selected mathematical models that support them to understand key concepts, using a range of manipulatives to support their conceptual development. This understanding is then applied to solve a range of contextual and abstract problems. At all stages, an emphasis on teacher modelling, questioning and collaborative learning, all anchored in our strong system of school values, encourages our children to reason logically and creatively, to take risks in a safe environment and to develop their mathematical language through discussion when presenting their findings to others.

We aim to prepare our children for the world around them, equipping them with the mathematical skills that enable them to solve real-life situations, to make connections and to formulate informed predictions. In the Early Years, we follow the EYFS curriculum and challenge the children, from a young age, in the key areas of mathematics: number, shape, space, measuring and calculating. The majority of children’s learning in the Early Years is through play.

Throughout Key Stage One and Key Stage Two, we use the National Curriculum and the NCETM materials to cover all areas of mathematics. We ensure that children are fully secure in their skills by covering all areas in depth. We aim to identify areas that individual children find difficult and target them so that the gaps in their knowledge do not increase. Daily fluency for all children supports their recall of mathematical facts and concepts, their number sense. 

Guidance for parents to support mathematical learning at home can be found in the Home Learning section.

The mathematics curriculum is divided into nine key areas:

● number and place value

● addition and subtraction

● muliplication and division

● ratio and proportion

● algebra

● geometry

● statistics

EYFS Knowledge and Skills in Maths