Maths

A Mastery Approach

Maths at Hotham is built on the principle of ‘mastery’. This means that children are taught to develop a deep understanding of a mathematical concept before moving on.

We currently use the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) to support our maths curriculum.

Concrete - Pictorial - Abstract

When teaching children a new concept, we take the Concrete-Pictorial-Abstract (sometimes called CPA) approach. This gives children the opportunity to build security in the concept before moving on.

Concrete - Children use physical resources and manipulatives to help understand the concept.

Pictorial - Children use pictorial representations, often based on their concrete resources, to help reason and solve problems.

Abstract - Children apply this understanding to an efficient and meaningful abstract method.

Focus on Fluency

We want our children to be mentally fluent mathematicians. This means having access to a range of strategies available to them when presented with a mathematical problem. Our curriculum supports this through the different ways in which we present problems. Children are actively taught a range of strategies and how to choose which is most appropriate. We value fluency in multiplication tables, and expect all children to be able to accurately retrieve multiplication and division facts up to 12 x 12 by the end of Year 4.

144 Club

If pupils know their times tables off by heart then this frees up their working memory to be able to answer multistep problems more successfully. The 144 Club is a fun way for children to work towards this aim. The 144 Club is a very special club because it is very challenging! To be part of the club children have to answer 144 questions correctly (one question of each times table) in less than five minutes. Some children will be able to join the 144 Club when they are in Year 4 and some will achieve this later in Year 5 or Year 6. The 144 Club is just one way to celebrate children who shine in this area of mathematics.

Maths Overviews

Please see our whole school maths curriculum map below.

Please see the overviews of curriculum content for each year group below.