About Our Mathematics Curriculum

Across the school, we teach Mathematics using the White Rose Maths framework, which pays close attention to guidance provided by the National Curriculum sequence and content. While we value White Rose for its clear, small-step progression and its powerful pictorial representations, we have carefully adapted and enhanced the framework to meet the precise needs of our children. Our ambitious Mathematics curriculum has the intention of increasing children’s absolute numerical fluency, enriching their mathematical vocabulary, and ensuring they can confidently explain the "how" and "why" of mathematical reasoning.

To prevent cognitive overload and protect children from expert reversal effects, we deviate from a generic delivery model by weaving our own bespoke pedagogical practices and structures into each unit we teach:

• The CUSP Pedagogical Lesson Structure: Rather than traditional slides, we divide our lessons into an intentional, cognitive-science-informed sequence: Connect, Explain, Example, Attempt, Apply, and Challenge. This ensures lessons build systematically on prior knowledge, reduce working memory load, and allow children to move from Practise it to Secure it, and ultimately Deepen it.

• Bespoke Long-Term Planning (LTPs): To guarantee that our curriculum prepares pupils thoroughly for high school and satisfies the DfE 'Ready to Progress' benchmarks, we utilise our own customised long-term planning. We have adapted the White Rose sequence to build in strategic "Number and Four Operations Review" blocks throughout the spring and summer terms, providing true, evidence-led retrieval practice that secures the core domains demanded by Key Stage 2 SATs assessments.

• Targeted Factual Fluency and Number Sense: Recognising that mathematical automaticity is vital, we deliver dedicated daily Number Sense sessions entirely distinct from the main mathematics lesson. These sessions target systematic progression—moving from subitising in Reception, through to bridging, number bonds, explicit times table and division facts, and key fraction-decimal-percentage (FDP) equivalents by Year 6.

• A Localised Calculation Policy: We implement our own customised Federation Calculation Policy that guarantees a consistent approach to Concrete, Pictorial, and Abstract (CPA) representations. This provides clear pathways for mathematical processes—such as teaching column addition with and without exchanges—meaning children share a unified mathematical language across our infant and junior schools.

The methodology for teaching Mathematics at the Federation of North Walsham Infant and Junior Schools is to provide opportunities for children to develop their reasoning and problem-solving skills, ignite curiosity about mathematical patterns, and widen their knowledge of how mathematics underpins the world around them. We want our children to respond proactively and positively to algorithmic and abstract challenges, utilising explicit Dual-Coded (DC) Mathematical Vocabulary organisers to precisely articulate their thinking. We recognise our responsibility to prepare pupils thoroughly for the quantitative demands of modern life, ensuring they are fully equipped with the mathematical automaticity, resilience, and arithmetic confidence required to thrive.

We also recognise that Mathematics is a interconnected discipline that draws on and impacts the wider world, such as science, computing, geography, and design technology. We believe making these curriculum connections—such as tracking scientific data or applying spatial awareness to computing logic—are essential components that help to engage and connect our children with the boundless opportunities Mathematics provides.

By the time our children leave the Federation of North Walsham Infant and Junior Schools, they will have the mathematical fluency, vocabulary, and conceptual depth to hold a level of independent thinking to carry through to their future education and into their lives beyond the classroom.

For further information on the curriculum please read the documents below.