Why Maths is Important

Maths is an essential skill that enables us to live an independent life. It teaches us how to make sense of the world around us, whether it be: calculating the total amount of money we need to purchase items, knowing what time to meet a connecting train or weighing precise amounts of ingredients when following a recipe. Maths helps us to develop problem solving and reasoning skills that allow us to solve a variety of problems.

Maths at Fairfields

Our teaching is based around the Herts for Learning “Essential Maths” programme, which is adapted to meet our children’s needs. This follows the National Curriculum for Maths which aims to raise standards of all areas of maths for all children. A typical daily Maths lesson involves a starter, differentiated main activity and plenary for the whole class and small groups.

Our main aims at Fairfields are to make our children fluent in solving calculations involving the four mathematical operations and to equip them with the tools to solve a variety of problems. Developing problem solving and reasoning skills is a thread that runs through all our Maths lessons. Children are constantly challenged to explain why, to prove how they know, to convince that they are correct or to find all possible outcomes. They have the opportunity to use a wide range of resources to support their learning such as hundred squares, number lines, cubes, place value cards and other small apparatus. Mathematical skills are developed across the curriculum in subjects such as Science, Design and Technology and PE.