Maths

The teaching of Maths at Cove Infant School enables children to develop as confident mathematicians. We aim to provide opportunities for children to appreciate how Maths connects to the world around them as well as in school. Most importantly, we want them to understand that maths is fun.

At Cove Infant School, we aim not only to ensure that pupils have a deep, conceptual understanding of what they are learning but to make sure that maths lessons are engaging and practical. We follow the White Rose Maths scheme where the core of this is the maths master approach, which focuses on depth rather than acceleration, ensuring that key concepts are fully grasped before moving on.

A key principle behind Maths Mastery is based on the concrete, pictorial and abstract approach. Children are first introduced to an idea or skill by acting it out with real objects (a hands-on approach). Children then are moved onto the pictorial stage, where they are encouraged to relate the concrete understanding to pictorial representations. The final abstract stage is a change for children to represent problems by using mathematical notion. We encourage the use of concrete (real resources), pictorial (images/pictures) and abstract (without resources or pictures) approach – this helps children to understand concepts deeply. 

We believe in equal opportunities so we strive to meet the needs of all our learners and give them equal access to our maths curriculum. It is important to ensure that all children have the opportunity to achieve alongside their peers and make excellent progress.

‘Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand.’

(Chinese Proverb) 

'Maths is a subject of beautiful connections, it is not a long list of disconnected topics.'

(Jo Boaler)