At St John’s CofE Primary School, we aim to inspire children to enjoy maths, think confidently, and develop problem-solving skills they can use in everyday life. From the very start in EYFS, children explore maths through practical activities and hands-on resources, helping them build a strong foundation of knowledge, vocabulary and understanding.

As they move through the National Curriculum, our focus is on helping children:

• Gain fluency in number, including key number facts, number bonds and times tables.
• Solve problems by breaking them into manageable steps and thinking creatively to find solutions.
• Talk and reason mathematically, explaining and justifying their ideas.

In Reception, we use the Mastering Number program to support instant recall of number facts and build early confidence. In Years 1–6, lessons are taught in whole-class interactive sessions, following our long-term plan inspired by White Rose, while using our own calculation policy to guide the teaching of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The policy supports children to progress from concrete resources, to pictorial representations, to abstract methods, ensuring they develop a secure and connected understanding of mathematics.

Developing Mathematical Understanding

We encourage children to deepen their learning through:

• Mathematical Thinking: Building on what they know and spotting connections between ideas.
• Fluency: Developing quick recall of number facts and times tables.
• Variation: Using familiar knowledge in new ways to strengthen understanding.
• Representation: Exploring concepts with practical materials, visual models, and written methods.

Calculation Policy

At St John’s, we follow our own calculation policy, which guides teaching strategies, resources, and representations for all four operations. It shows how children can progress from using concrete materials, to pictorial representations, to abstract methods and helps them make connections between addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Staff use the policy to plan lessons and support pupils’ understanding, and parents are welcome to contact us with any questions about how it is applied in school.

Times Tables

Knowing times tables is essential for confidence in maths. In Key Stage 2, we follow the Number Sense scheme to support fluency, mental strategies and confident recall of times tables. This scheme also helps prepare children for the Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) in Year 4. Parents can support learning at home by practising tables regularly and encouraging children to explain their thinking and strategies.