Mathematics at St Mary’s Hampton
At St Mary’s Hampton, we are committed to providing a high-quality mathematics curriculum that enables all children to develop confidence, deep understanding and a positive attitude towards maths. We follow a mastery approach, ensuring that every pupil is supported to achieve success through carefully sequenced learning and small-step progression.
Our curriculum is built around the NCETM curriculum pathway, with Oak National Academy resources used as a key tool to support this sequence. Lessons in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 follow the small-step progression from the Oak National Academy curriculum plans, helping pupils secure strong conceptual understanding and make meaningful mathematical connections. Children explore ideas through concrete experiences, representations, precise mathematical language and symbolic notation.
Teaching is shaped by the NCETM’s Five Big Ideas in Teaching for Mastery, ensuring that concepts are introduced coherently, representations expose underlying structure and pupils are encouraged to reason and explain their thinking. Fluency is developed through recognising relationships, making connections and confidently recalling number facts.
How Mathematics is Taught
Across St Mary’s, children are taught in mixed-attainment classes. The mathematics curriculum is sequenced to ensure that all pupils move through the content in a coherent order, with appropriate scaffolding and challenge. This includes a two-year curriculum cycle for mixed-age classes where required, ensuring full National Curriculum coverage.
We believe that all children can succeed in mathematics. Teachers have high expectations for every pupil, including those with SEND, and ensure that overlearning and practice support automaticity. Gaps in learning are identified early using the DfE’s Ready to Progress guidance and other diagnostic tools, allowing timely interventions so pupils begin each new unit “lesson ready.”
Pupils are taught to reason deeply using prompts such as:
What do you see? Why is this happening? What do you wonder? How could you find that out?
This supports independence, metacognition and confidence in tackling mathematical challenges. We value mistakes as an important part of learning and use them to address misconceptions and strengthen understanding.
Mastering Number
From Reception through to Key Stage 2, all children take part in the Mastering Number programme, taught daily in short sessions outside the main maths lesson. These sessions build strong number sense, helping children to spot patterns, make connections and develop fluency with confidence and flexibility.
Early Mathematics (EYFS)
Our Early Years maths curriculum is grounded in the Development Matters guidance, NCETM learning trajectories and the Early Learning Goals for Number and Numerical Patterns. Reception children learn through the Mastering Number programme, whole-class teaching and continuous provision. Adults support small-group learning, and children have opportunities to apply mathematics across a range of meaningful contexts.
How Mathematics is Assessed
Assessment is used to inform teaching and identify next steps.
- Before a new unit, children complete a pre-unit task to identify prior knowledge and potential gaps.
- At the end of a unit, children complete a post-assessment linked to the year-group expectations.
- End-of-year assessments review key content from the Maths Guidance: key stages 1 and 2.
This information supports teachers in planning keep-up interventions and ensuring all children remain on track.
Lessons draw on the Oak National Academy learning cycle and typically follow these phases:
- Connect – retrieval practice using starter quizzes to strengthen long-term memory and link past learning to the new concept.
- Explore – a low-floor, high-ceiling task using a key representation, encouraging all learners to discuss what they see, notice and wonder.
- Explain – explicit teaching in small steps using Oak National Academy slides, manipulatives and carefully structured examples.
- Check – ongoing assessment to identify misconceptions and address them promptly.
- Practice – opportunities for children to apply new learning through structured tasks, activities and games.
- Feedback – guidance that helps pupils understand their progress and supports teachers in adapting teaching.
- Debrief – summarising learning using key representations and, where useful, exit quizzes.