Mathematics

“Mathematics is the brain's sharpener.”Angeliza Ampeloquio

Aim

Our principal aim is to nurture in our pupils a love of Mathematics and its position as a cornerstone of learning.  It is a subject that is vital for everyday life, and we want our children to develop the skills, knowledge and understanding that will help them to appreciate how Mathematics fits into our world.  In this way, we ensure that our pupils will develop a fascination for, and a real sense of enjoyment of, the subject, as well as deep facility and confidence in their ability to use and apply it.

Approach

Mathematics has always been given a high priority at Lady Barn. It is taught in a traditional structured way with children being encouraged to develop a quick facility with mental operations, follow logical and standard-setting out and understand the processes they use so that they can apply them to a wide range of practical, problem and investigative situations.

We recognise that individuals learn at different rates and continually adapt our teaching to offer suitable challenges so that our pupils will grow in their confidence and enjoyment of the subject.

In the Early Years and Infant departments, the children are encouraged to handle a wide variety of practical resources so that they can grow in their understanding and discover links between different areas of the subject. Problem-solving is used to help our children discover new ideas and concepts. By the end of Year 2, we strive to create a solid foundation of mathematical understanding as the children move into the junior school.

From Year 3, pupils continue with a daily maths lesson to extend, enrich and support each child's learning and facility with the subject. Problem-solving is used to discover new ideas and concepts. Children are encouraged to share their ideas and are nurtured to become accurate and precise in their mathematical thinking and creative in their problem-solving.

A wide variety of resources are used to create a deep and advanced understanding of the subject to provide by the end of their time at Lady Barn a solid foundation for later study and successful preparation for their entrance examinations to a wide variety of senior schools, including scholarship examinations.