At St Joseph’s, our intent is to provide a high-quality, inclusive mathematics curriculum that enables all pupils to achieve and participate fully in learning. Through a mastery approach, we develop confident, resilient and independent mathematicians who enjoy mathematics and recognise its importance in everyday life.

We aim for all pupils to develop a deep understanding of mathematical concepts by securing key knowledge and skills through depth rather than acceleration. We place a strong emphasis on fluency, ensuring that pupils can recall and apply key number facts efficiently, use mathematical methods with accuracy and flexibility, and confidently reason, explain and solve problems.

Mathematics is promoted across the curriculum, enabling pupils to make meaningful connections between their learning and apply their mathematical knowledge in a range of contexts. Through carefully sequenced learning and high expectations for all, we strive to ensure that every child leaves St Joseph’s with a secure foundation in mathematics that prepares them for future learning and life beyond primary school.

At St Joseph’s, we use a mastery approach to the teaching of mathematics. Our curriculum
is built around five key principles identified by the National Centre for Excellence in the
Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM):

Coherence
Learning is carefully sequenced into small, connected steps that enable all pupils to develop a secure understanding of mathematical concepts and apply them confidently in a range of contexts.

Representation and Structure
Concrete resources, pictorial representations and mathematical models are used to expose the underlying structures of mathematics. These support pupils in developing conceptual understanding before moving towards more abstract methods.

Mathematical Thinking
Pupils are encouraged to reason, explain, discuss and make connections in their learning.
This promotes deeper understanding and helps children become confident mathematical thinkers.

Variation
Teachers present concepts in a variety of ways and carefully sequence examples and tasks to highlight mathematical patterns, relationships and structures. This enables pupils to make connections and develop a secure understanding of concepts.

Fluency
Pupils develop efficient recall of key number facts and procedures alongside the flexibility to apply their knowledge accurately and confidently in different mathematical contexts.

Curriculum and Planning
In Years 1–6, we follow the NCETM Prioritisation Curriculum, which is aligned with the
Department for Education's curriculum guidance and prioritisation documents. The NCETM curriculum provides high-quality teaching materials, professional development resources and planning guidance to support teachers in delivering a mastery-based mathematics curriculum. Curriculum maps can be found here - https://www.ncetm.org.uk/classroom-resources/cp-curriculum-prioritisation-in-primary-maths/

Teachers also utilise resources from Oak National Academy, which complement the NCETM curriculum and support effective lesson planning and delivery. Together, these resources ensure consistency, progression and depth of learning across the school.

Across the school, we use a Concrete, Pictorial and Abstract approach to teaching mathematics. Every year group uses carefully selected manipulatives and representations to secure strong foundations in mathematical concepts and develop deep conceptual understanding. Through this approach, pupils are supported to make meaningful connections between mathematical ideas, reason with confidence and apply their learning effectively in a range of contexts, including real-life situations.

Professional Development
Developing staff expertise is central to our mathematics provision. All teaching staff have participated in introductory mastery training to ensure a consistent understanding of the principles of teaching for mastery across the school.

The Mathematics Subject Leader has engaged in professional development to further
Strengthen mathematics teaching and leadership. This includes completing Specialist
Knowledge for Teaching Mathematics (SKTM) programme, the National Professional
Qualification for Leading Primary Mathematics (NPQLPM), and participation in an Academy
Maths Mastery Workgroup led by the BBO Maths Hub.

Early Years Foundation Stage
In the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), staff follow the Development Matters framework to support children's mathematical development. Learning opportunities are carefully planned through a combination of adult-led activities and high-quality continuous provision.

In Reception, pupils participate in the NCETM Mastering Number programme. This includes short daily whole-class mastery sessions, focused group activities and opportunities to practise and apply learning through continuous provision during busy learning time.
Mathematical experiences are carefully linked to the weekly learning focus to ensure progression and depth of understanding.

Mastering Number

The NCETM Mastering Number programme is delivered throughout Reception through to
KS2, providing short daily sessions focused on developing fluency and confidence with number facts and number sense.

Following successful implementation in Key Stage 1 over the past two years, the programme will be extended into Key Stage 2 from September 2026. Teachers will continue to receive
 raining and support through the BBO Maths Hub to ensure effective delivery and impact.

Assessment
Assessment is an integral part of mathematics teaching and learning at St Joseph’s.
Teachers use ongoing formative assessment throughout lessons to identify misconceptions, adapt teaching and provide immediate support where required. This may include additional explanations, targeted questioning or the use of concrete resources and representations to secure understanding.

Teachers provide live feedback and in-the-moment intervention to ensure pupils remain on track within lessons and can access new learning successfully.

Summative assessments are completed at the end of each term to monitor attainment and progress. Pupils in Years 2 and 6 complete SATs-style assessments, while pupils in Years
3, 4 and 5 complete NFER assessments. Assessment outcomes are carefully analysed to identify strengths, address gaps in learning and inform future teaching, ensuring that all pupils make strong progress throughout their mathematical journey.

As part of our ongoing mathematics improvement journey, we aim to ensure that all pupils develop confidence, fluency and a deep understanding of mathematical concepts. Through our mastery approach, we are building a culture where every child can succeed in mathematics, regardless of their starting point, and where pupils are equipped with the knowledge and skills needed for future learning. Children who can apply their learning across a range of contexts and are able to reason, explain and justify their thinking using appropriate mathematical language.

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, children develop a strong foundation in number and mathematical understanding. They confidently use mathematical vocabulary in their play and everyday experiences, demonstrating skills such as counting, comparing, sorting, ordering and recognising patterns independently.

Assessment information, pupil voice, and lesson observations demonstrate that pupils are making progress through the mathematics curriculum. By the end of each academic year, we aim for pupils to achieve the Age-Related Expectations (ARE) for their year group, with some pupils demonstrating Greater Depth (GD) understanding. Pupils who require additional support are identified quickly and receive targeted intervention to enable them to achieve success and make strong progress from their starting points. This is often seen through pre- teaching at the start of a lesson or further resources in lesson to support.

The national curriculum for mathematics aims to ensure that all pupils:

• become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately
• reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language
• can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.  
• www.gov.uk/national-curriculum-in-england-mathematics-programmes-of-study
• www.gov.uk/ofsted-publishes-research-review-on-mathematics-education