What does a 'Mastery Approach' look like at St. Alban's?

A mastery approach at St. Alban's means that our pupils acquire a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of mathematics.

How do we do this at St. Alban's? 

Putting number first:

Our mathematics curriculum has number at the centre. A significant amount of time is spent reinforcing number in order to build competency and ensure children can confidently access the rest of the curriculum.

Depth before breadth:

Our mathematics curriculum ensures that pupils acquire depth of knowledge in each topic. Opportunities to revisit previously learned skills are built into later units and through our daily Maths Meetings. 

Working together:

Children are encouraged to support each other and to work collaboratively to develop their mathematical language in order to demonstrate a secure understanding of mathematical concepts.

Fluency, reasoning and problem solving:

Our mathematics curriculum develops all three key areas of the National Curriculum, giving children the knowledge and skills they need to become confident mathematicians.

Embedded within our teaching is the Concrete – Pictorial – Abstract (CPA) approach.  Research shows that all children, when introduced to a new concept, should have the opportunity to build competency by following the CPA approach. 

Concrete:

Children have the opportunity to work with physical objects/concrete resources, in order to bring maths to life and to build understanding of what they are doing.

Pictorial:

Alongside concrete resources, children should work with pictorial representations, making links to the concrete. Visualising a problem in this way can help children to reason and to solve problems.

Abstract:

With the support of both the concrete and pictorial representations, children can develop their understanding of abstract methods.