Maths

At Burley Oaks, mathematics is understood as a powerful life skill. Children learn to explore and explain their ideas using symbols, diagrams and spoken and written language. The learning of mathematics is not isolated to our maths lessons.

the maths curriculum.pdf

Our curriculum is ambitious, inclusive and carefully designed, grounded in the strongest educational research to ensure that all pupils become confident, fluent and thoughtful mathematicians. We believe that every child can succeed in mathematics and are committed to ensuring all pupils achieve highly through high-quality teaching, appropriate support and ambitious expectations.

Mathematics at Burley Oaks is not a set of disconnected lessons – it is a coherent journey of learning, where what comes before makes what comes next possible.

Our curriculum meets the expectations of the National Curriculum while reflecting the best that has been thought and said in mathematics education. The intent, implementation and impact of our curriculum are clear in both planning and practice.

Our Curriculum Intent

Our intent in mathematics is to develop pupils who:

are fluent in key mathematical facts and methods
understand mathematical concepts deeply, not superficially
can reason mathematically using precise language
can apply their knowledge confidently to unfamiliar and real-life problems

Learning in mathematics at Burley Oaks is carefully sequenced so that knowledge is remembered, built upon and connected over time. We place a strong emphasis on number sense, calculation and automaticity as gateways to reasoning and problem solving. We explicitly teach pupils that effort and perseverance matter, and that mistakes are an essential part of learning.

Our curriculum reflects a strong belief that attainment is not fixed, and that all pupils, including those with SEND, can achieve high standards through high-quality teaching, appropriate support and ambitious expectations.

A Bespoke, Research-Informed Curriclum

Our mathematics curriculum is bespoke and carefully designed. We draw on high-quality, research-informed materials (including White Rose, Oak Academy, NCETM, Ready to Progress materials and NRICH), which are carefully selected and adapted to meet the needs of our pupils.

This ensures that:

learning is coherently sequenced from Reception to Year 6
key concepts, particularly number and calculation, are prioritised and revisited
teaching is responsive to pupils’ understanding

whole school ltp 25261.pdf

Our long-term plan clearly maps progression across each year, while our ‘Threads and Endpoints’ document defines how knowledge builds across each strand of mathematics over time. Together, they clearly demonstrate how learning is sequenced, revisited and deepened from Reception to Year 6.

maths threads with endpoints progression.pdf

We ensure full coverage of the National Curriculum while allowing flexibility when pupils need more time to secure understanding.

Implementation: What Maths Looks Like at Burley Oaks

Mathematics is taught through a consistent and carefully structured lesson design, ensuring clarity, consistency and success for all pupils. There is flexibility within this structure, and teachers adapt the lesson framework responsively to meet pupils’ needs.

elements of a maths lesson.pdf

Every lesson includes opportunities for retrieval practice, where pupils revisit learning from the last lesson, last week, last term and previous years. This strengthens pupils’ long-term memory and ensures that learning is secure and cumulative over time.

Fluency lies at the heart of, and underpins, our mathematics curriculum at Burley Oaks. It is developed through daily practice, including times tables, recall of key facts, structured questioning and variation, alongside regular purposeful practice sessions. This builds accuracy and automaticity, enabling pupils to access and apply new learning confidently. Where fluency is not yet secure, support is provided to strengthen understanding. Pupils also engage in regular reasoning and problem-solving, ensuring they can explain, justify and apply their knowledge effectively.

New learning is introduced with a clear focus linked to prior knowledge and modelled explicitly using I do → We do → You do. Learning is broken down into small, manageable steps to ensure all pupils can access it and to prevent overload.

We use a Concrete → Pictorial → Abstract (CPA) approach so that pupils understand concepts deeply, represent ideas flexibly and build secure mental models. Key representations used across school include ten frames, number lines, part–whole models and bar models.

Consistency in calculation is vital. Our calculation policy ensures clear progression in each operation, consistency in methods across the school, and that deep conceptual understanding is secured before pupils move to formal written methods. Pupils move from concrete resources to pictorial representations and then to abstract calculations, and we ensure that learning is secure before progression.

See our Calculation Policy

Practice is purposeful and adaptive, with all pupils engaging in fluency, reasoning and problem solving. Teachers provide targeted support, address misconceptions immediately and offer appropriate challenge once learning is secure.

Assessment is ongoing and responsive; teachers check understanding throughout lessons, address misconceptions promptly and adapt teaching in real time. This ensures that all pupils are supported to achieve and that no pupil is left behind.

Mathematics at Burley Oaks is inclusive by design. All pupils access the same core learning and receive support or challenge as needed. Our approach supports all learners, including pupils with SEND, through consistent structure, clear modelling, the CPA approach and carefully sequenced learning steps.

Mathematics is applied across the wider curriculum and in real-life contexts. Pupils engage in meaningful problem solving, cross-curricular learning and enrichment opportunities. The development of our Finance Curriculum is a key example of this. This application helps pupils to see the relevance of mathematics, developing confidence, curiosity and enjoyment.