Our dedicated subject experts work with our partner schools to support them on their journey to subject improvement and sustained academic excellence. Here they tell us some of the ways that schools have benefited from the tailored CPD that's available as part of the Mathematics Mastery Primary programme.
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I was working with a large London primary school. They had been with Mathematics Mastery for a few years and teachers felt well supported and confident in using the programme. Developing effective use of teaching assistants was on the school’s development plan. Specifically, TAs’ confidence in calculation methods and use of representations in maths was low – they needed additional support.
There were two ways in which we could support the school through our CPD:
We agreed to co-deliver training to lower KS2 TAs on multiplication methods – as this is where the Maths Lead identified trends in data that showed it as being a key area of development. We used a scheduled in-person school visit to co-deliver the training to the TAs.
We watched two Mathematics Mastery unit modelling videos – one on short multiplication with Dienes and one on short multiplication with place value counters. Then the TAs had an opportunity to practice modelling in pairs – with feedback from the Maths Lead and me.
The TAs really enjoyed the training session – a chance to delve into specifics of modelling. They felt more confident in supporting the learning in classrooms. Now TAs and teachers watch the unit CPD videos (learn more) together before each unit.
After this training, the TAs were able to mirror the modelling the teacher was doing in the classroom – carefully modelling the process of short multiplication using accurate language and representations to aid conceptual understanding.
Most significantly, for targeted pupils (identified from pupil progress meetings), their understanding of multiplication improved, as shown in the subsequent termly assessment.
The programme was well embedded at the school I was working with. The school have Maths Meetings (an integral part of the Mathematics Mastery Primary programme – learn more) regularly timetabled, however the Mastery Lead had identified that as a school, the purpose of running these had not been totally clear – Maths Meetings were not always supporting responsive teaching.
There were two key ways in which I felt we could support the school with this challenge:
I joined the Mastery Lead for a joint learning walk across Maths Meetings to identify good practice to share and make these more consistent across all year groups. That lead us to focus on the use of assessment for learning in Maths Meetings to inform future learning content. Working together, the Mastery Lead and I planned the next steps. We built a bespoke CPD session that supported teachers to develop their Maths Meetings.
The Mastery Lead and I created a set of key principles for teachers to ensure Maths Meetings are both joyful and purposeful.
Teachers feel equipped and empowered in planning content for Maths Meetings and varying their questions to ensure pupils have opportunities to practice and are also thoughtfully challenged.
Teachers now have more purposeful assessment opportunities built into Maths Meetings, supporting them to be responsive in future sessions.
The Mastery Lead was extremely happy with the high expectations the programme set for all pupils but this led to concerns around adult subject specific expertise – more so the subject knowledge of support staff within the concept of geometry. The reality is, support staff often join our primary settings with no education qualification or training to support them which can lead to a lack of confidence in supporting pupils or, worse still, embedding misconceptions.
We reviewed two options for providing support for the school around this:
Due to contracts and cost of asking support staff to attend an out-of-hours meeting, the Mastery Lead chose for me to deliver the geometry SKEW to support staff during an in-school visit. We had tables full of manipulatives including, but not limited to, geo boards, shapes and Cuisenaire rods. The session was hands-on and delivered in a bespoke way, reacting to the needs of the attendees. This led to a heavy focus on key vocabulary and use of manipulatives to maintain high expectations for all pupils including those with SEND needs.
Support staff who attended the meeting enjoyed their bespoke training session. Some commented on how little training they’ve had during their adult life and so thoroughly appreciated the thought. One person joined the session feeling extremely anxious about their own mathematical ability but left feeling highly motivated for the upcoming year 4 geometry unit!
The Mastery Lead has since reported that teaching support now have the confidence to move around the room and not only support but challenge mathematical thinking within all pupils for geometry. Furthermore, that pupils across the school demonstrated enthusiasm about Maths during this unit.
Short videos in each unit offer content tutorials, knowledge recaps to refresh subject knowledge and task modelling. This bite-size CPD is easily accessed for immediate implementation by your teachers. Request access to a free Programme Preview and watch examples of these CPD videos.
Maths Meetings are a vital part of the programme, building pupil fluency and oracy. They take place daily for 10 minutes outside of the maths lesson and provide flexible, fun retrieval opportunities fitted to your individual pupils’ needs. See page 16 of our programme brochure to read more.
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