Our project, Adventures in Mathematics, comes from our shared commitment to provide an exciting and engaging curriculum that meets the needs of all of our children and ensures high levels of attainment. Mathematical skills and competencies are essential to lifelong learning and employment. Motivation, involvement and confidence are key factors in improving learning in mathematics, especially amongst our disadvantaged children. Teachers need to develop a curriculum and strategies to ensure inclusion and equality of opportunity for all of our children. Creative and cross curricular approaches give teachers the opportunity to inspire children, to create real and meaningful contexts for learning, to provide effective models and images and to facilitate exciting opportunities to practise and embed skills. It can give them the flexibility to build on children's needs and interests and to ensure attainment for all. Improving teaching in mathematics will enable us to raise standards and support children to succeed, complete their education and gain employment.Objectives:Share and review pedagogue and approaches to teaching and learning in mathematics with the aim of improving teachers' competenciesDevelop creative and cross curricular approaches to teaching and learning in mathematics to improve children's motivation and attainmentDevelop strategies for teaching that raise the self-esteem and attainment of vulnerable groups of children in order to close the gap in achievementDevelop provision that caters for the needs of all children and ensures full participationCreate outstanding contexts for learning and applying mathematical skills that promote high achievement and a love of mathematics Use new technologies as a tool to enhance teaching, learning and to raise attainment in mathematicsShare teacher learning and ideas widely through eTwinning and bloggingDevelop mutual respect and understanding of each-other’s culturesDevelop staff and pupils' linguistic skillsDevelop communication and collaboration across the school communitiesAll teaching staff in our schools will participate in curriculum development and in shared curricular activities. These will include all children, with a particular emphasis on vulnerable groups and the disadvantaged. Representative teachers will attend termly meetings, each school hosting 3 meetings over the course of the project. During the meetings teachers will share best practice, participate in shared training, observe teaching, share resources. They will also review progress so far and plan what comes next. eTwinning and a blog will be used to share ideas, record events and developments and promote dialogue with other professionals. There will be a termly event in schools showcasing the strategies that are being developed. Events will be shared with parents and the local community through open mornings, library displays and articles in the local press.The termly events will include:A day of mathematics taught through a visit or in the local communityA day of mathematics taught through art and designA day of mathematics outdoorsA Problem Solving DayA day of mathematics taught across other curriculum subjectsA day of mathematics linked to storiesThe Results and ImpactTeachers will develop collaborative approaches to their own learning, reflecting on their practice and learning from each other.They will develop their knowledge and skills to ensure that their teaching of mathematics is good or better. The curriculum and provision for children will be enhanced to ensure that levels of confidence and involvement are high and that all children make good or better progress. Parents will participate in this journey to develop their own knowledge and skills for supporting learning at home.Schools will act as models for international learning and cooperation. Their research and curriculum development will be shared widely through eTwinning and via a blog.Longer Term BenefitsA strong learning culture will be embedded in schools who will act as role models for international learning in their communities. The profile of teachers will be enhanced, with the importance of their work reflected in the development opportunities available to them. Developments in the quality of the mathematics curriculum, and in teaching and learning, in partner schools will be embedded and shared with the wider profession.
Context: Our teaching staff have a strong commitment to a creative curriculum which supports both pupil achievement and well-being. Previous Comenius and Erasmus projects have contributed significantly towards school development priorities that achieve our ethos and aims. We have participated in projects that explicitly focus on developing a creative curriculum and on promoting pupil well-being. Evaluations of our provision led us to reflect on how well this creativity was embedded across the curriculum and questions were raised about how approaches to learning in mathematics compared to other subject areas. It became apparent that cross curricular links were less well embedded in mathematics and that lessons were less likely to have exciting contexts or to be taken outdoors. We, therefore, set out to audit provision and to plan for improvement. Strandskolan, a strong partner school, were also reflecting on their Mathematics provision. During an Erasmus KA1 mobility, on leadership in education, our staff began the discussion which led to our joint application for our project ‘Adventures in Mathematics’. Objectives: • Share and review pedagogy and approaches in mathematics with the aim of improving teachers' competencies • Develop creative and cross curricular approaches in mathematics to improve children's motivation and attainment • Develop strategies that raise the self-esteem and attainment of vulnerable groups of children in order to close the gap in achievement • Develop provision that caters for the needs of all children and ensures full participation • Create outstanding contexts that promote high achievement and a love of mathematics • Use new technologies as a tool to enhance learning and to raise attainment • Share teacher learning and ideas widely through eTwinning and blogging Profile: Two schools were involved in our project, Russell Street School and Strandskolan.. We have collaborated on previous projects together and have developed shared practice and provision in our schools. Both schools have recently gone through a period of change which has involved a change the demographic of our pupils. Russell Street has expanded and now includes a larger group of pupils from areas of deprivation while Strandskolen now serves a wider community of refugee families. Main Activities: at the beginning of the project we collected our baseline data using questionnaires, observations and analysis of pupil achievement to assess staff, pupil and parent attitudes to mathematics. We then had a focus for curriculum development over each school term of our project. These included: models and images, mathematics outdoors, mathematics across the curriculum, mathematics through story, mathematics through ICT and mathematics in social contexts. Partnership meetings took place termly: with each school taking turns to host; each school hosted 3 meetings and each travelled to 3 meetings. The meetings included: lesson observations, job shadowing, sharing resources, modelling approaches, sharing planning and curriculum. After each meeting the teacher participants led a meeting back at their own school to share learning and to review which approaches could be used to improve their own practice. The host school also shared key events and learning from the visit on eTwinning and via the project journal. During each visit a mathematics day was organised based on each term’s study focus. Results and impact: questionnaires filled in at the beginning and end of the project show that attitudes to mathematics amongst pupils became much more positive. Attainment of pupils in national tests was above national expectations for both schools. Staff feedback was extremely positive. All felt that they had benefitted from high quality professional development that had impacted on both their mathematics teaching and on their wider practice. Feedback sessions were highly reflective and led to sustained change and improvement in provision, both in mathematics provision and in other areas. Parent information sessions were well attended and received excellent feedback. Parents were interested in both the schools’ approaches to mathematics and in the collaborative learning that the project facilitated for staff. The project was celebrated in the local press and shared at local community meetings by headteachers. At Russell Street we have shared the project learning more widely through Global Partnership and have been accepted onto an Enigma Hub project on Maths Mastery where we will continue our development of mathematical pedagogy and provision. We have also successfully renewed our International Schools Award.