Mathematics is one of the core subjects in the National Curriculum and is taught throughout the school at Saint Christina’s. Although informed by the National Curriculum and the renewed framework for learning, we seek to provide curricular experiences that tailor to the needs of all our children as appropriate to enable them to be competent mathematicians.
At Saint Christina’s we are naturally concerned that learning experiences are appropriately matched to all our pupils. Therefore, within a class, children may find themselves being given differing tasks from their peers – which will be done out of consideration to their individual needs and abilities.
There are many parts to Mathematics that the children of Saint Christina’s will encounter in the twenty first century: number, arithmetic, shape and space, patterns, measure, money and data handling are just some of the areas we encounter, encourage and extend.
Our aim is to teach our children to apply what they know of Mathematics to solve problems that they meet. To do this, children are encouraged to work singly, in pairs, groups or as a whole class – as deemed appropriate by the teacher. The problem solving that the children undertake is not limited to Mathematics, as problems (using arithmetic, for example) occur in many subjects. Thus, knowledge of co-ordinates may help children with map work in Geography, or knowledge of graphs may help children record survey work in PSCHE, Religion, or any other subject.
Technology is also harnessed to Mathematics at Saint Christina’s School. It is used to aid Mental Mathematics work, as well as for exploring mathematical investigations and recording work. Each teacher has reference to a bank of online media that will aid and enhance mathematics teaching within the school: for example, Mathletics, NRICH and i-nfer (for which Saint Christina’s is a pilot school).
Finally, our aim at Saint Christina’s is for all of our pupils to be happy and to enjoy their schooling experience with us. We provide enrichment activities such as
Inter-School Mathematics competitions and interactive problem solving displays. We set out to show children that Mathematics is an enjoyable and interesting experience – in short, that Mathematics is fun!
Fr. Rudolf Loewenstein OP
Subject Leader for Key Stage Two Mathematics and Director of Studies
Ms Bronagh Finnison
Subject Leader for Key Stage One Mathematics