Mathematics at St Nicholas Catholic Primary School
Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas. - Albert Einstein Mathematics has beauty and romance. It's not a boring place to be, the mathematical world. It's an extraordinary place; it's worth spending time there. - Marcus du Sautoy Mathematics knows no races or geographic boundaries; for mathematics, the cultural world is one country. - David Hilbert
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Our Aims and Vision Our curriculum vision for maths is around understanding a deep interwoven network of mathematical skills that provides the children with valuable tools for everyday life and beyond. At St Nicholas the three aims of the Primary Maths Curriculum are at the heart of everything we do, these are:
It is important to us that all our pupils leave St Nicholas as confident and competent mathematicians who enjoy Mathematics. We work hard to provide them with a deep understanding and secure foundation that can be successfully built on throughout their time at St Nicholas’, moving on to Secondary school and future endeavours. We encourage independent, collaborative and resilient mathematicians who are motivated and enjoy a challenge because we know maths is an exciting, fun adventure that everyone can master. Therefore, we deliver our Maths curriculum in such a way that all our children are included, stimulated and encouraged to achieve their full potential. From our EYFS curriculum to Year 6, we adopt a ‘Teaching for Mastery’ approach with a philosophy that every child can achieve through a deeper understanding. |
We encourage children to think deeply and look for the Maths in the world around us. Across school we ask "Where's the Maths in that?". In all aspects of our curriculum, we find opportunities to link Maths to relevant learning and everyday life so that children can see it's role in relation to STEM and our modern society.
What does a Maths lesson at St Nicholas look like?
Mathematics Whole School Long Term Plans
Across school, our pupils follow small, specific steps on their learning journey, that allows the to gradually build conceptual understanding, to apply to trickier more complex reasoning and problem solving.
Whole School Documents
| Timestables at St Nicholas |  |
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Why are times tables so important?
Secure and confident knowledge of times tables is vital to children’s success in Maths. They are the building blocks of Maths and with multiplications mastered the doors to many other areas of Maths become unlocked!
Here are some ways which memorising times tables can benefit your child:
- Most importantly, knowing their times tables will give your child confidence in their ability in Maths. We aim for all children to be able to mentally recall their times tables, moving away from counting on their fingers as they become more confident, as this confidence will help them solve a range of tasks at primary school and ease their transition to high school.
- Times tables can help your child to grasp other mathematical concepts, such as fractions, division, ratio and percentages to name a few. Children who do not know their times tables will not be able to access more complex procedures.
- If a child is confident with their times table skills, then this can reduce the cognitive load when learning a new method. An example of this is when learning the long multiplication method; if a child is already confident with their times tables then they can solely focus on the new skills with the method, e.g. where to carry numbers, when a place value holder is needed, estimating and checking that their answer is correct. This will not only help to ensure that their calculations are accurate, but speed up the process of learning a new method and also boost their confidence as they see that they have been successful.
What do Timestables look like at St Nicholas?
What does Maths look like at St Nicholas?
TImes Table Rock Stars Parent Guide
Year 4 Multiplication Check
The Year 4 Times Tables Test, known by the government and schools as the Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check, is an annual check that Year 4s in England and Wales have a good level of times tables knowledge. Each child’s results will be known to the school and the government will have a national picture. However there will be no publication of a school’s times table tests results and they will not be one of a school’s accountability measures.
The Year 4 Times Tables Test is an online test with 25 questions; children must answer each question within a 6 seconds time limit so the whole test will take less than 5 minutes.
Children complete the test towards the end of Year 4 and are very well prepared for the test within school, by regular practise with similar online systems as well as following the school's approach to teaching timestables (shwon on the left).
Autumn Maths Newsletter