At Thorpe Primary School we want to create confident, skilful mathematicians who have a life-long love of mathematics and can expertly apply their knowledge and understanding.

The new National Curriculum states:

“Mathematics is a creative and highly inter-connected discipline that has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems. It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. A high-quality mathematics education therefore provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.”

At Thorpe Primary School we use Power Maths to help develop a deeper understanding of mathematics through: fun practical activities, exploration, discussion, problem solving and reasoning

What is Power Maths?

Power Maths is a resource that has been designed for UK schools based on research and experience of teaching and learning around the world and here in the UK. It has been designed to support and challenge all pupils, and is built on the belief that everyone can learn maths successfully.

How does this support our approach to teaching?

The belief behind Power Maths is that being successful in maths is not just about rote-learning procedures and methods, but is instead about problem solving, thinking and discussing. Many people feel they were taught maths in a way that was about memorising facts and formulas and calculation methods, then having to apply them without any real understanding of what or how these methods actually work. Power Maths includes practice questions to help children develop their fluency and recall of facts as well as their understanding. Power Maths uses growth mind-set (the belief that everybody’s abilities can be developed through hard work) characters to prompt, encourage and question children. They spark curiosity, engage reasoning, secure understanding and deepen learning for all.

Please read the Maths Curriculum Statement of Intent document below for further information.