There are three main aims of the national curriculum for mathematics: fluency, reasoning and problem solving. Our curriculum ensures that all pupils become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics. For example, small steps when teaching the knowledge and understanding of counting, helps build fluency in simple addition and subtraction. Pupils are supported and encouraged to reason mathematically by justifying decisions when choosing whether something is true or false, providing the answer to a calculation or conjecturing when identifying patterns. Lastly, our curriculum ensures pupils can solve problems through lessons at the end of each unit that apply the knowledge they have learnt to new and sometimes unfamiliar contexts. 

Our curriculum develops pupils’ understanding of mathematics over time so that they become competent and confident in identifying and performing the mathematics they need both at school and in their daily lives. We prepare pupils to become self-assured and resilient mathematicians by developing their ability to select the most suitable tools to solve problems across a range of topics and real-world scenarios.

We introduce concepts and prompts to make pupils think hard about making sense of ideas, while also focusing on efficient procedural methods to ensure calculations can be completed easily and systematically. We often provide visual models to support understanding, then we remove scaffolding as ideas progress and foundation knowledge becomes secure, in order to aid development of mathematical fluency.

A careful and purposeful sequencing of our curriculum ensures that pupils are able to build on and make links with existing knowledge. Curriculum content is intentionally revisited, for example, a lesson on right-angled trigonometry may retrieve construction or circle theorem content, or a lesson on ratios will use familiar models and tools to explicitly link to prior learning.

Our curriculum is intentionally designed to facilitate high-quality teaching as a powerful lever to support pupils with SEND. Aligned with EEF guidance, our resources have a focus on clear explanations, modelling and frequent checks for understanding, with guided and independent practice. Lessons are chunked into learning cycles and redundant images and information are minimised to manage cognitive load