Maths

Intent 
Mathematics is an essential life skill that children use every day. At Ladysmith Junior School, mathematics forms a key part of our broad and balanced curriculum. We aim to develop children’s enjoyment of maths and foster the confidence and enthusiasm they need to use mathematics successfully throughout their lives. 

Our curriculum is rich, progressive and carefully sequenced to develop fluency, reasoning and problem-solving skills alongside secure conceptual understanding. Informed by the National Curriculum, it enables children to make meaningful connections between mathematics and the world around them. 

Through our curriculum, we: 

• Ensure children become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics through varied and frequent practise, so they can recall and apply foundational knowledge rapidly and accurately. 

• Develop children’s understanding of key mathematical vocabulary, enabling them to explain, reason and justify their thinking clearly. 

• Provide all children with accessible opportunities to succeed, reason mathematically and deepen their understanding without limiting expectations.  

• Encourage children to see themselves as capable mathematicians, able to persevere and to apply their knowledge and skills to solve problems confidently. 

What do maths lessons look like at Ladysmith Juniors? 
At Ladysmith Junior School, we utilise the White Rose Scheme of Learning to support the planning of our lessons, ensuring key knowledge and skills build progressively - year on year and lesson on lesson. Every lesson starts with a retrieval activity, calledFlashback4, to develop fluency, giving children the opportunity to recall and practice knowledge that they have previously learned.  

Children are introduced to new mathematical learning through a carefully planned and sequential approach, rooted in the Rosenshine Principles of Instruction. Lessons are designed to build confidence, deepen understanding and support long-term retention. An Anchor Task is used to provide an initial assessment opportunity for teachers to gauge prior understanding, identify starting points and adapt teaching to meet the needs of all learners. These tasks also provide all children with an opportunity to develop their reasoning skills. Teachers then clearly model new learning in small, manageable steps. They explain and demonstrate their thinking aloud, helping children to understand not only what to do, but also why and how to do it. Carefully chosen examples, visual models and mathematical representations are used to support understanding and make abstract concepts more accessible. 

Following this, children are guided through the learning with structured support from the teacher. This may include guided practice, targeted questioning, discussion, or working through similar examples together step by step. During this stage, teachers regularly check for understanding, address misconceptions promptly and provide immediate feedback to ensure children are secure in their learning. 

Once children have developed confidence with the new concept, they apply their understanding independently through carefully selected tasks. This enables teachers to assess understanding, whilst also encouraging children to think critically, explain their reasoning and develop increasing independence in mathematics. 

At the end of each lesson, children complete a final assessment task known as the Yellow Question. This independent task is carefully matched to the day’s learning and is completed without direct teacher support, allowing children to demonstrate their understanding and apply the new concept confidently on their own. The Yellow Question provides an important assessment opportunity for teachers to evaluate how securely each child has understood the key learning from the lesson. Teachers use this information to identify strengths, address misconceptions and plan appropriate next steps to support continued progress. 

Where children require further support to secure their understanding, teachers respond promptly through targeted adaptations and interventions. This may include additional guided practice, short learning interventions, pre-teaching of upcoming concepts, re-teaching key learning, or strategic classroom adjustments to provide further support. This responsive approach ensures that learning gaps are addressed quickly and that all children are supported to achieve success in mathematics. 

Multiplication  

To support the secure acquisition and recall of multiplication facts, we use a consistent programme of direct teaching, regular practice and targeted intervention. Our approach follows the Claire Christie (NCETM) method of times table instruction, using structured multiplication booklets that develop fluency through clear and carefully sequenced practice.  

The school’s teaching approach is supported by the use of Times Tables Rock Stars, which provides a platform for children to engage in regular additional practise and an additional tool for teachers to monitor progress. Children all have an individual login to this site and we recommend 3-5 minutes of daily practise at home to support children's fluency in this foundational area of learning. 

Where children are not yet developing fluency securely, additional support is provided through individualised intervention programmes. 

How do we make sure that every child succeeds? 
Our mathematics curriculum is designed to be inclusive and accessible for all children. Lessons are carefully planned and adapted to ensure that every pupil can engage successfully with the learning and demonstrate their mathematical understanding. 

Our whole-school approach to support and scaffolding is known as Helping Hands. This provides children with the appropriate tools and guidance needed to access learning independently and confidently. Support may include worked examples, sentence stems to develop mathematical language and reasoning, visual representations, key facts or carefully structured prompts. These scaffolds are used purposefully to build understanding whilst encouraging increasing independence over time. 

For children who demonstrate secure understanding, opportunities are provided to deepen and extend their mathematical thinking through activities known as Flex Your Maths Muscles. These tasks encourage pupils to think more deeply about concepts by representing ideas visually, creating similar problems, explaining their reasoning, or exploring possible misconceptions and challenges linked to their learning. This approach promotes mathematical reasoning, problem-solving and a deeper understanding of key concepts. 

Within lessons, teachers use a range of formative assessment strategies to continually assess pupils’ understanding and respond to their needs in real time. Through skilled questioning, observation and discussion, teachers identify misconceptions, adapt teaching and provide immediate feedback to ensure that all children make progress within the lesson. 

Teaching is responsive and flexible, allowing support and challenge to be adapted throughout the learning process. This may include flexible groupings, the use of Helping Hands scaffolds, practical and visual resources, additional guided practice, targeted questioning or further modelling to strengthen understanding. This responsive approach ensures that teaching is carefully matched to pupils’ needs, enabling all children to develop confidence, fluency and independence in mathematics. 
 
At the end of each lesson children are assessed on their understanding using the Yellow Question. This enables teachers to quickly identify any children who have not yet secured the learning and to offer additional support.