At Croxteth Primary School, we follow a mastery approach to the teaching of the objectives laid out in the National Curriculum using the NCETM Spine and prioritisation materials. This means that all pupils are taught the same objective at the same time, with adaptive strategies used to support and challenges used to account for differences in rates of learning. Mastery teaching fits with the belief that all pupils can achieve and succeed in maths, a subject that causes anxiety for many, with this being an issue within society as a whole.

The Maths curriculum is ambitious and designed to give all learners, particularly the most disadvantaged and those with special educational needs, the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life. Where required, pedagogy is adapted so that all pupils including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND are on the same knowledge journey towards the same endpoint

In a mastery teaching model, pupils will develop conceptual understanding, number fluency, and the ability to apply their understanding within reasoning and problem solving contexts. In doing this, learning is broken into small steps and scaffolded to support cognition, with difficulty increasing as pupils move towards independence and deeper levels of understanding.

Although the Spine is the main focus of teaching, we have developed an overarching structure to ensure general teaching approaches are applied to each unit of work to fit the cognitive model we adhere to. These will ensure that spaced practice and retrieval take place systematically (linked to recall and application of basic facts and the revisiting of prior learning through deeper thinking tasks). The structure also provides a raft of pedagogical strategies that will support teachers’ planning and pupils’ learning.

To support the implementation of training is led by two ‘Primary Mastery Specialists’ who work within the Trust and have undergone NCETM training.  In addition, school receives further support through being part of the ‘Mastery Readiness Programme’ and with Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 being enrolled onto the ‘Mastering Number Programme.’

A key feature of the mastery approach is the belief that pupils should not be labelled or have their learning capped. Instead, the Spine offers a finely-tuned breakdown of learning through small steps, with teachers being responsive to pupils’ needs so that all get the chance to work at their optimum level in any given mathematical topic. Teachers will provide appropriate support (e.g. worked examples, concrete resources, differentiation, adult intervention) while challenge comes in the form of activities to deepen understanding.