Mathematics

We encourage all of our pupils in mathematics to learn by teaching them how to question and by providing them with the confidence to take risks and be resilient when faced with challenge. We work to uncover the key to each pupil’s enjoyment of, and therefore ultimately success in, mathematics.  

This is an emotive subject for many pupils. We recognise and value the wide spectrum of possible mathematical achievement within any cohort and allocate pupils to classes best suited to their current confidence level and understanding. This flexible arrangement allows pupils to meet challenges set at the optimum level for their own progress.

Unencumbered by the pressure of national testing at age 11, our less confident mathematicians enjoy learning in the reassuring environment of a small group, where additional sessions in our Learning Support Centre can be provided as necessary.

Our high performing mathematicians experience accelerated, extended learning, unbounded by the glass ceiling of age expectation, which regularly involves exciting problem-solving challenges presented in a competitive format. We are very proud of All Hallows’ successes in national events such as the Primary Maths Challenge, the (UKMT) Junior Maths Challenge and Olympiad competitions. Our scholarship candidates frequently achieve top grades in examinations for their chosen senior schools.

Our pupils will discover and develop their personal strengths, whether that be excelling in geometric reasoning or thriving on processing mental calculations quickly and accurately. Explicit links between mathematics and other areas of learning are formed and investigated, for example studying micro-climates in Geography, building a geodesic dome in Creative Design or planning a route for the Exmoor Challenge orienteering walk.

The mathematics our pupils learn sets the foundation for future learning and the all-important GCSE requirements to come. Our curriculum reflects, yet is not confined by, the national standards. Using the mastery model of learning, pupils undertake the following units of work: Place Value, Number and Calculation; Shape and Geometry; Measures; Data and Graphs; Algebra. Mental Maths skills are developed throughout these strands.

Each year, All Hallows celebrates its own Maths Week, a highly popular event where all pupils enjoy discovering mathematics outside of the standard curriculum. This could mean learning about mathematics in nature (in our own Scouts’ Wood), uncovering the mathematics behind “magical” number tricks, undertaking an artistic tessellation challenge or competing against friends in an inter-house puzzle or times tables challenge. Pupils may be asked to translate their addition or subtraction question into French or explain the symbolism of numbers in the Bible. Or, pupils may hold a debate about which is better- fractions or decimals – or summarise their learning in History using a mathematical equation.

Literally meaning “learning” and “mental discipline”, mathematics teaches pupils an essential set of intellectual skills including numeracy, logic, problem solving and reasoning as well as the abilities to analyse and handle abstract concepts. Or, more simply put by one of our pupils, “it makes you more clever.”

"Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth but supreme beauty."

^{Bertrand Russell}