Maths
Children will be confident mathematicians, who make links between different areas of maths quickly and efficiently, choosing appropriate methods and equipment to explain, prove and extend their thinking. SJSC provides a maths curriculum that is practical, challenging, and thought-provoking, where maths is seen as something to investigate and explore, rather than methods to be learned and remembered.
Pupils from SJSC have a solid mathematical foundation on which to build, so (as young people and adults) they have a positive relationship with the mathematics that they confidently apply to real-life contexts such as their personal finances. They will view challenges they face as problems to be solved, looking for solutions, being resilient, and drawing on their knowledge from different disciplines.
Maths in action
SJSC follows a mastery approach to mathematics and ensures that children do not just rely on algorithms (formal methods) to arrive at the correct answer but that they have secure number structures and a clear understanding of the concepts being taught so that they have the flexibility of structures and a range of methods to arrive at the correct answer, developing their efficiency at choosing appropriate methods as they move through the school.
The use of a range of representations encourages children to explain the maths they see and to be able to represent for themselves the way they solved a problem. The correct use of mathematical language ensures children can articulate the patterns and relationships that they notice, explain their thinking clearly and discuss them explicitly to deepen understanding.
Maths at SJSC is taught in blocks where a whole topic, such as place value, is taught in depth. The methods taught in each year group are developed as they move through the school following the concrete, pictorial, abstract journey.
Times tables are taught explicitly and practiced for fluency and automaticity. This is supported by a maths program called Times Tables Rock Stars, which has a personalised algorithm to support children at their individual level.