Aims 

At The Divine Mercy, we believe mathematics is a vital tool to help children make sense of their everyday lives. Skills developed at the primary age will help equip them to become lifelong learners. Children are encouraged to tackle maths problems with enthusiasm and confidence with the understanding that mistakes are a vital part of learning. As a school, we want to develop a positive attitude towards the learning of mathematics in children of all ages. 

Maths at The Divine Mercy

​Within the foundation stage, key stage one and lower key stage two children will be adopting a Singapore teaching approach. This approach will be rolled out to subsequent year groups, year on year. The teaching of this approach mathematics develops pupils mathematical ability and confidence without having to resort to memorising procedures to pass tests - making mathematics more engaging and interesting. The Singapore approach supports the aims of the new national curriculum focusing on developing fluency, problem solving and reasoning.

At the Divine Mercy, we will be using Maths No Problem to support mathematical learning within these year groups. Watch the maths no problem video below to find out more about the concrete, pictorial and abstract approach used throughout Maths No Problem. 

Upper key stage two will follow a mastery approach in line with the expectations of then new curriculum. The mastery approach takes influence from of east and south-east Asian countries such as Singapore, Japan, South Korea and China. Year 5 and 6 will use the White Rose maths hub mastery resources to support curriculum design. 

Teachers will ensure children achieve high standards by:
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• Using individual support and intervention to ensure pupils achieve the learning objective.
• Develop lessons to encourage deep thinking and reasoning.
• Spending longer periods of time on topics to develop a strong understanding.
• Using carefully crafted lessons and resources to foster deep conceptual and procedural knowledge.
• Using practice and consolidation to develop mathematical fluency and understanding.
• Teachers will use precise questioning in class to assess pupils regularly to identify those requiring intervention so that all pupils keep up.

Singapore Maths at a glance:

• Singapore consistently top the international benchmarking studies for maths teaching
• A highly effective approach to teaching maths based on research and evidence
• Builds students’ mathematical fluency without the need for rote learning
• Introduces new concepts using Bruner’s Concrete Pictorial Abstract (CPA) approach
• Pupils learn to think mathematically as opposed to reciting formulas they don’t understand
• Teaches mental strategies to solve problems such as drawing a bar model