Maths at Hoylake Holy Trinity  

Mastering maths means pupils acquiring a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of the subject.

The phrase ‘teaching for mastery’ describes the elements of classroom practice and school organisation that combine to give pupils the best chances of mastering maths.

Achieving mastery means acquiring a solid enough understanding of the maths that’s been taught to enable pupils to move on to more advanced material.

Our teaching for mastery is underpinned by the NCETM’s 5 Big Ideas.

• Opportunities about Mathematical Thinking allow children to make chains of reasoning connected with the other areas of their mathematics.
• A focus on Representation and Structure ensures concepts are explored using concrete, pictorial and abstract representations, the children actively look for patterns and generalise whilst problem solving.
• Coherence is achieved through the planning of small, connected steps to link every question and lesson within a topic.
• Teachers use both procedural and conceptual Variation within their lessons and there remains an emphasis on Fluency with a relentless focus on number and times table facts.

At Hoylake Holy Trinity, teachers use WhiteRose Maths Scheme of Learning as a starting structure to ensure lessons follow a coherent sequence. Lesson journeys are detailed to include key vocabulary, sentence stems and challenging questions.  

Potential misconceptions or gaps in learning are identified prior to the teaching of a topic allowing strategies to address any problems to be planned. 

Representations are carefully chosen to develop reasoning skills and to help pupils link concrete ideas to abstract mathematical concepts. 

The use of high quality materials and tasks to support learning and provide access to mathematics is integrated into lessons. These may include White Rose Maths Schemes of Learning and Assessment Materials, ThirdSpace Learning activities and lesson structures, ThirdSpace Learning diagnostic assessments, visual images and concrete resources.

Opportunities for extra fluency practice (instant recall of key facts, such as number bonds, times tables, division facts, addition and subtraction facts) are provided at the start of the mathematics lesson through Keeping Skills.