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Spring Term 2021
Newsletter 4 March 2021
Join the BBO Maths Hub by emailing [email protected] Follow us on Twitter @BBOMathsHub
Maths Hub Lead - Abha Miller [email protected]
News from our Maths Hub Lead, Abha Miller:
Dear All,
It is nearly a year since schools closed last year for the first time on 20 March 2020, and so much has changed.
We are now experts at managing Covid 19 testing centres, social distancing , remote learning and teaching
and online meetings! I want to take this opportunity to thank all teachers involved with BBO in their relentless
pursuit to upskill their knowledge and share this with the wider community. We are also very lucky to have
Anne Watson as our chair. She has truly ‘got our back’, and writes an article on page 2 of this newsletter. We
are always listening, and continually adapting. If you have any great ideas for any mathematics innovation
projects please do get in touch.
While we wait to hear what final guidelines for teacher assessed grades will look like, I hope you manage to
have an eggcellent Easter after an eggraordinary year !
Keep smiling and stay safe!
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Join the BBO Maths Hub by emailing [email protected] Follow us on Twitter @BBOMathsHub
Maths Hub Lead - Abha Miller [email protected]
Administrators [email protected]
Message from Professor Anne Watson:
Chair of Strategic Board for the BBO Hub
I have now been Chair of the BBO Hub Strategic Board for a few months and am
beginning to understand the scope of the work that takes place. As an outsider, and
someone who has been retired for a few years now, I am in awe of the way that
teachers and schools have been managing to respond positively to the stresses and
uncertainties of Covid Britain. The deeply ingrained professionalism of your work shines through and, even in
these difficult times, it is remarkable that teachers still find extra energy to continue with a ‘professional
development’ mindset. This entails looking to the future, continuing to adapt to new circumstances,
innovating to improve the educational experiences of learners, and in doing so also to enhance their life
chances. Everyone I have met and talked with via the BBO Hub is doing this.
My own background is in secondary mathematics teaching, way back, followed by many years of teacher
education, research and curriculum work through all school years. In my retirement I continue with what I
love best: unpicking the nuts and bolts of mathematical ideas and thinking, with teachers, about how these
can be transformed into a coherent curriculum and effective lessons that build conceptual understanding. For
me, this is both a pleasure and a duty to the future. In that spirit I have taken on the task of leading the ITT
Work Group for the Hub and we are looking at qualities mentoring that provide a foundation for future
teachers – teachers who are informed, thoughtful and professional - without them where would our children
be?
(It is not too late to join this workgroup and if you are interested please email [email protected] )
Coming out of Covid and coming out of lockdown is slow and challenging work – whizzing forward in
mathematics is not a priority for everyone. All education is founded in relationships and these may need time
to be rebuilt. This is an opportunity to say ‘look at our courses and Work Groups’ because developing
knowledge and practice through collaboration is one proven way to enhance our own working lives as well as
children’s learning. But it is also a way to say that care is also important – care for yourself and those around
you and your pupils.
Take care, stay safe,
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Join the BBO Maths Hub by emailing [email protected]
Page 3 Primary Work Groups 2020/2021
Please note that due to Covid-19 and lockdown, all Work Groups will be run remotely until at least Easter
2021. All of our Work Groups are free.
Curriculum Prioritisation
With all children coming back into school you might feel a bit overwhelmed wondering how on earth you
can fill the gaps ad ‘catch up’ any lost learning.
What we need to focus on is not ‘catching up’ but prioritising children’s mathematical learning so at the
end of this academic year they are secure in the concepts that really matter. The Mathematics Guidance
which was released by the DfE in June 2020 supports us with this. It identifies the most important
knowledge and understanding within each year group and important connections between these
mathematical topics. The Ready to Progress criteria for each year group and each area of the curriculum
show clear progression and we are able to track the journey forwards and back for each of the
statements.
In September 2020 the NCETM also produced an excellent set of resources to exemplify how we can
teach some of these key points and these are all available to download and use on the NCETM website
here. The NCETM are now about to release some new support materials and resources to help schools
decide how to prioritise key concepts for the rest of this academic year. Documents will include a
curriculum prioritisation self- evaluation document, a curriculum planning map and a flow chart to help
guide schools through the planning process focussing on the guidance released in 2020.
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Join the BBO Maths Hub by emailing [email protected] Follow us on Twitter @BBOMathsHub
Maths Hub Lead - Abha Miller [email protected]
Administrators [email protected]
Page 4
Primary Work Groups
Curriculum Prioritisation (cont.)
The BBO Maths Hub is hosting an online event on Wednesday 24th March at 4pm where we will discuss
and explore the resources together. This will give participants the opportunity to clarify how the
documents could be used to support your curriculum prioritisation and to share thoughts and ideas with
Maths Leads and SLT members from other schools, facilitated by the BBO Maths Hub.
Please use this link to reserve your place now:
Wednesday 24 March 4.00pm—5.00pm Book here
Primary Open Events
Would you like to hear more about the benefits of joining a Work Group?
Come and join us on line to hear more about what we have to offer. You will also have the opportunity to
hear directly from our Headteacher Advocate, Julie Hiddleston, on the impact Teaching for Mastery has
had on her schools. Book now to secure your place!
Tuesday 20 April 4.00pm—5.30pm Book here
Tuesday 27 April 4.00pm—5.30pm Book here
Primary Sustaining Mastery—Headteachers’ Work Shops
The BBO Maths Hub is offering an exciting opportunity for all Headteachers of schools in our Sustaining Mastery programme to join a Work Group led by Julie Hiddleston, Executive Headteacher, GLF Schools.
Headteachers are invited to join this Work Group where you will have the chance to work collaboratively with other Heads, exploring the challenges and opportunities that arise for leadership teams when implementing and then sustaining a mastery approach to teaching in school.
The workgroup will give Headteachers the opportunity to consider what is working well, share challenges and successes and to begin planning for a post-Covid return to school. Work group participants will have the opportunity to examine current research and guidance and how this can help to support staff with the development of the approach in your schools. Crucially, the Work Group will also explore how a sustained approach to developing mastery teaching in school can have a positive impact on narrowing the gap for the most disadvantaged children in our schools.
Tuesday 25 May 9.30am—12.00 noon Book here
Please book as soon as possible to secure your place.
Primary Work Groups 2020/2021
Please note that due to Covid-19 and lockdown, all Work Groups will be run remotely until at least Easter
2021. All of our Work Groups are free.
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Join the BBO Maths Hub by emailing [email protected] Follow us on Twitter @BBOMathsHub
Maths Hub Lead - Abha Miller [email protected]
Administrators [email protected]
Maths Retrieval Practice Natasha Harrison, Deputy Headteacher and Maths Mastery Specialist, St Ethelbert’s Primary Catholic School Have you come across the book called ‘How I wish I’d taught maths’ by Craig
Barton? I’m going to admit, I purchased this book last year and have just
started to dip into it over the last couple of months. I’m so glad I did! The
information on retrieval practice in particular has encouraged me to reflect on
my teaching and change my practice. As teachers, we are sometimes driven by
trying to teach as much content as possible, without giving enough time for consolidation and
overlearning. Kate Jones’ book on Retrieval Practice highlights that if nothing has changed in long term
memory, nothing has been learnt. Therefore, we need to continually support pupils to recall key
mathematical facts so that they remember them; there needs to be a change to their long term memory.
To support this, at my school, the pupils began using flash cards in maths –
really simple but has had a huge impact! A question is written on one side of
the card (e.g. 9 x 2) with the answer on the other. Teachers plan into their
lessons dedicated flashcard retrieval time – short and snappy. The results
have been amazing. Pupils who have previously struggled learning specific
multiplication facts are now recalling them fluently. A range of flash cards
have been created, depending on the age of pupils: recalling fractions,
decimals, percentages in upper key stage 2; number bonds to 10 and 20 in
year 1; doubling and halving in year 2. Flash cards is just one retrieval
strategy, but one that I’d definitely recommend all teachers to try.
As Daniel Willingham (2019) said “In teaching procedural and factual knowledge, ensure that students get
to automaticity. Explain to students that automaticity with procedures and facts is important because it
frees their minds to think about concepts.” We need our pupils to have committed these facts to their
long term memory so that we can get on with helping them to understand the big ideas in Maths.
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Join the BBO Maths Hub by emailing [email protected] Follow us on Twitter @BBOMathsHub
Maths Hub Lead - Abha Miller [email protected]
Administrators [email protected]
Mixed attainment teaching Research and Innovation Work Group Andrea Wickham, Work Group Lead, Didcot Girls School
This term I have had the pleasure of starting to lead a research and innovation Work Group focused on
how we can best teach maths to students in mixed attainment settings. The reading and research I have
done has been fascinating and in the first session participating teachers contributed lots of energy and
thoughtful discussion on the subject.
At a time when year 7 students are not arriving at secondary schools with SATs results and there is a lot
of attention on lost learning many maths departments are re-examining how they do things. It seems that
lots of us are teaching mixed classes and teachers are keen to make sure that their teaching is the best it
can be for those classes. A number of participants of this Work Group have given social justice as their
reason for wanting to spend time thinking about and improving their practice in this area.
We first examined attitudes and beliefs around mixed attainment teaching; our own, those of our
colleagues, students and their parents about learning maths and the kind of subject maths is. Jo Boaler’s
writing about maths often being perceived as a ‘performance subject’ rather than a ‘learning subject’
struck a chord with many of us. Her writing also prompted us to think about the role that speed plays in
our lessons and when and whether that element of students being able to do maths quickly is necessary
or desirable.
We next thought about what differentiation means and considered how we can move away from the red,
amber, green worksheets notion of differentiation and the problems associated with deciding in advance
what a student is capable of achieving by choosing practice questions at a particular level for them. This
was an interesting one as a number of us have worked at times in departments where different levels of
work was a requirement in lessons. Talking through all the ways that we differentiate for students in the
moment to provide support where it’s needed, by asking questions in different ways, by knowing our
students and what works with them as individuals was helpful here.
Having looked at some ‘dos and don’ts’ of mixed attainment teaching and identifying ‘rich tasks that
students can access at different levels’ as a focus for the in school gap task for teachers to plan and use
with their classes, we spent the rest of the session examining ways of creating these tasks through the
lens of the five big ideas of teaching for mastery. Using concrete and pictorial representations for both
support and challenge, applying variation theory to practice to introduce different levels of challenge and
questions enabling students at all levels to engage in mathematical thinking are some of the areas we
looked at. The Work Group teachers have now taken a list of strategies to try with their classes and I look
forward to some lively discussion in the next session as we reflect on their impact.
https://www.youcubed.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/teacher-article-youcubed2.pdf
https://www.marymyatt.com/blog/death-by-differentiation
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/sites/ioe/files/dos_and_donts_of_attainment_grouping_-
_ucl_institute_of_education.pdf
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Join the BBO Maths Hub by emailing [email protected] Follow us on Twitter @BBOMathsHub
Maths Hub Lead - Abha Miller [email protected]
Administrators [email protected]
Jo Walker
Assistant Maths Hub Lead and Secondary Mastery Lead)
Welcome back to face to face teaching. I hope that your first week back has
gone smoothly and you are enjoying teaching your students in the classroom.
We are beginning to plan for next year and there are two opportunities that I
thought you might be interested in :
Cohort 6 Secondary Mastery Specialist
Mastery Advocate
Both of these are ways to learn about teaching for depth and are continuous professional development
with support over several years from Mastery Specialists who are teaching for depth in their own schools
an have been trained to help other schools travel the same developmental journey. Both programmes
develop the participants skills and those of the departments they work in. The difference between the
two is that the Mastery Specialist will also go on to work with other schools as they begin their journey.
Both of these are fully funded by NCETM in terms of cover and travel costs. For more information please
click on the links below.
Mastery Specialist https://www.ncetm.org.uk/maths-hubs-projects/secondary-mastery-specialists/
Mastery Advocate https://www.ncetm.org.uk/maths-hubs-projects/secondary-teaching-for-mastery-development-work-groups/
Recordings by teachers who are involved as leads and participants in these programmes to explain what they and their schools have got out of them https://bbomathshub.org.uk/secondary-mastery-workgroups/
To express interest in any of these programmes, please fill out the form on our website at the following location, listing the name of the opportunity you are considering. Alternatively, if you have any questions or would like to speak to a teacher who has already been through the above please contact the maths hub and mark your enquiry for my attention.
Best wishes
Jo Walker
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Join the BBO Maths Hub by emailing [email protected]
Page 8
Events / Network Meetings
Slough and Windsor network meeting is on Monday 15th March 4 to 5.30pm. Topic is Hypothesis Testing with Desmos and Geogebra. To sign up go to https://amsp.org.uk/events/details/8204
Making Them Think! network meeting is on Thursday 18th March 4.30pm to 6pm. The topic is Hypothesis Testing using Desmos and Geogebra (a repeat of Slough and Windsor). To sign up go to https://amsp.org.uk/events/details/8075
All network meetings are online and you are welcome to sign up to any in which you are interested.
In addition:
AMSP are running their Year 10 Maths Feasts online. The next date is the week beginning Monday 22nd March and schools can organise the event however they wish. For details go to https://amsp.org.uk/events/details/7942
Maths Inspiration Virtual Show - Cracking the Code - Maths & Cyber-security. This is for 11-16 students, and is 40 minutes from 2pm on Wednesday 24th March. For more information go
to https://amsp.org.uk/events/details/8224
There is an online enrichment event for Year 10 students - Making a Million. This is on Thursday 25th March, 1.30 to 2.30pm. Information from https://amsp.org.uk/events/details/8176
There is a lot coming up in April and May. To check it out go to https://amsp.org.uk/events
Interested in becoming a Mastery Specialist or a PD Lead?
Expression of interest forms for 2021/2022 are now available
Expression of interest (EOI) forms for Primary Mastery Specialist, Secondary Mastery Specialist and PD Lead programmes for 2021/2022 have now gone live on the NCETM website. Please go online and complete an EOI form to be informed once the recruitment windows are open. www.ncetm.org.uk/maths-hubs-projects/primary-mastery-specialists/ www.ncetm.org.uk/maths-hubs-projects/secondary-mastery-specialists/ www.ncetm.org.uk/maths-hubs-projects/professional-development-lead-accreditation-programme/
Don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity for 2021/2022!
Other Opportunities
Please note that due to Covid-19 and lockdown, all Work Groups will be run remotely until at least Easter
2021. All of our Work Groups are free.
