At Queen’s Hill Primary School, the belief that we are all mathematicians is promoted throughout the school. Our pupils of all ages will work towards acquiring a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of the subject whilst fostering a positive attitude towards mathematics and a passion for the subject through the application of the White Rose Maths Mastery approach.
Mathematics is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. Therefore, at Queen’s Hill, it is taught as a highly interconnected discipline, which is threaded through different areas of the curriculum, as well as being an essential foundation for understanding the world.
The progression within the White Rose approach allows for a secure and deep understanding of mathematical concepts, taught through manageable steps. Mistakes and misconceptions are an essential part of learning, along with challenge, which is provided through rich and sophisticated problem solving opportunities.
We aim for all pupils to:
- become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics so that they develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.
- be able to solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of problems with increasing sophistication, including in unfamiliar contexts and to model real-life scenarios.
- reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry and develop and present a justification, argument or proof using mathematical language.
- have an appreciation of number and number operations, which enables mental calculations and written procedures to be performed efficiently, fluently and accurately to be successful in mathematics.
We encourage a deeper understanding of mathematics through termly whole-school investigations. This enables pupils to solve problems, reason, think logically and work systematically providing opportunities for pupils to work with initiative, both independently and in cooperation with others.
At Queen’s Hill we have fostered a love for mathematics in our pupils, which has produced some extremely able mathematicians. In order to celebrate their achievements we organise STEM trips and enter pupils into regular regional and national mathematical competitions and challenges.
Subject in Action
Poppies and Balancing
This week in Reception we have been learning about Remembrance day and the meaning of poppies. Children did a range of poppy themed activities including counting, playdough and art. We have also been concentrating on our balancing skills both inside and outside. Some children even made their own obstacle course to challenge themselves.
Year 5 Maths Investigation
Year 5 enjoyed the whole school maths investigation, seeing how many shapes they could make out of 4, right angled isosceles triangles. They had to work systematically and showed great concentration and grit and determination!
Year 4 Times Table Cafe
Thank you to all the parents and carers who came into school this morning to support our year 4 times table breakfast café. It was lovely to see you all taking part in activities, crafting and playing Times Tables Rock Stars together. Please continue to support us by encouraging your children to practise their times … Read more
Year 3 Times Table Cafe
Thank you to all of the parents and carers who turned up for this morning’s year three breakfast café. We enjoyed fruit juice, croissants and pain au chocolat whilst learning more about the Times Table Rock Stars app. There were also lots of paper games, activities and things to make to support children with learning … Read more
Black Heroes of Mathematics
We had the privilege of joining an online conference with the London Mathematics Society to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the first Black person in the world to get a PhD in mathematics. Dr Elbert Cox, an African-American, received his PhD on the 26th September 1925 from Cornell University. We were joined by Dr … Read more
Year 2 Maths – Tally Charts
This week Year 2 have started learning about tally charts. To practise making tally charts they went into the school car park and tallied up the different car colours they could see. After looking at their completed tally charts they found out white cars were the most common in the car park today.
Problem Solving in Maths
Year 6 have been working hard problem solving in Maths in a range of tasks. We have worked in pairs and small groups and used the ‘Trial and Error’ method to find solutions.
