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Newsletter
Newsletter 2 Spring 2017
A very warm welcome to our first newsletter of 2017. The academic year has
already been a busy and exciting one for Matrix with a third England-China
exchange, dozens of teachers participating in teacher research groups, a large
Mastery conference and work groups in problem solving and manipulatives to
name but a few Autumn term activities. We were delighted to welcome some
new faces to the leadership team which has expanded as the Maths Hub has
grown over the past few years. Our original four Maths Mastery Specialists
have been embedding the work they began last year and six new Specialists
are well into their training and it will not be long until we start recruiting next
year’s new cohort (watch this space).
Inside this issue
China – England Research project
East of England CPD Providers : Spring Term Meeting
KS3 Reasoning
Using Manipulatives to develop fluency in number sense
Core Maths
Looking ahead, there are lots of opportunities to sign up for right now: choose from our programme for new
and aspiring Maths leaders, another cohort of our ever popular “problem solving unpicked” with the brilliant
NRich, support for schools teaching the new GCSE or an opportunity for those of you leading any sort of Maths
professional development to become an accredited NCETM PD Lead. There are many more work group oppor-
tunities to get involved in too – please see page 5 for more details and check our website regularly for updates
and to book.
This is your Maths Hub so let us know if there is a work group or course that you think we should be offering or
if you are interested in leading a work group with us. We hope to see lots of you at a work group this term.
David Chadwick and Penny Richardson (Maths Hub Leads)
Follow us @MatrixMathsHub
Introducing our new Maths Hub Administrator , Helen Mason-Smith who joined the Matrix team last term.
Helen is your first point of contact and will be happy to help you with any Maths Hub enquiries or course
bookings. Drop her an email at [email protected] to get in touch!
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Kirsty Pettinger is Matrix Maths Hub’s Teaching for Mastery Lead and oversees all of the mastery work within the Hub. Kirsty
is Deputy Head at Thorn Grove Primary School and has been involved in the Maths Hub since 2014. Many of you may have
met Kirsty through last term’s Mastery conference, Shanghai showcase events or through being part of our local Primary
Maths Leads network over the past few years.. Kirsty visited Shanghai in November as part of our third England-China
exchange - read all about it below…
Seeing Shanghai teaching first hand
It was a huge privilege to spend two weeks visiting Shanghai schools with 70 other English primary school mastery
specialists and representatives from the NCETM. Our Chinese hosts were very welcoming, both at Shanghai Normal
University where most Shanghai teachers train, and also at each of the 50 or so schools that were involved in the exchange.
The fortnight began with an inspiring lecture by Professor Gu whose work on variation theory will be familiar to those who
have already explored teaching maths for mastery. He explained that the philosophy of Shanghai mathematics teaching is
“to move forward from a solid starting point consistently” - an approach that was clearly evident in all the lessons we
observed , and is something for which maths teachers all over England strive!
Having spent several years thinking about maths teaching for mastery and trying to establish it in my own teaching and
school, it was very exciting to experience Shanghai teaching first hand. Surprisingly it was the similarities that initially struck
me most. The bubbly children were delighted to be able to try out newly learnt English phrases on their foreign visitors.
There were art lessons, PE lessons, music clubs, parent open days and lots of excited chatter. The classrooms were smaller
than ours equipped with individual (but easily moved) desks, smart boards, whiteboards and visualisers. Importantly, they
all had two doors, one at the back of the classroom to enable teachers to quietly slip in to observe their colleagues which is a
frequent and vital part of their continued professional development.
There were of course many differences too. Lessons were just 35 minutes long,
during which children were focused, engaged and almost universally on task. The
pace of teaching was brisk; new learning was interspersed with opportunities for
children to practise one or two carefully chosen examples. Each lesson had a clear,
very precise learning point, but the contexts and representations used provided
many opportunities to reinforce previous learning and build foundations for the
next stage. Repetition of key phrases and processes was used to embed the sense
of meaning that had already been gained through manipulation of concrete re-
sources or a variety of pictorial representations. However, this occurred in a natu-
ral, relaxed manner with pupils following the teacher’s lead enthusiastically, not in forced mindless repetition which is some-
times the caricature of Chinese teaching. Extended independent tasks of 5 to 10 minutes were set as daily homework.
So, now it’s back to the chalk face and my own teaching continues to evolve as I
incorporate what I have seen to be so very effective. I am convinced that learning
from Shanghai-style maths teaching can bring significant improvements to maths
education in England and that many schools in Hertfordshire and Essex are al-
ready well on their way to embedding elements of teaching maths for mastery.
Kirsty Pettinger – Teaching for Mastery Lead, Matrix Maths Hub
CHINA – ENGLAND RESEARCH PROJECT
East of England CPD Providers
Spring Term Meeting
Matrix are delighted to be hosting
this term’s network meeting on
March 15th. We hope to see lots
of familiar faces but are equally
pleased to welcome new people
too. The meetings are a great
opportunity for Maths CPD
providers to keep up to date with
the latest developments, network
with each other and do some
Maths together. If you are
interested, please contact Helen
for more details or check the
online forum if you are already
registered.
Other workgroups you may be
interested in:
Primary Subject Knowledge Enhancement
Developing a Mastery Curriculum at KS3
Successful KS2-KS3 Maths Transition
Increasing Post 16 Participation in Maths
Creating Maths Specialist TAs
Creating More Maths Specialist Teachers at KS3
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Interested in Reasoning at KS3? Have you tried these resources?
Reading images: Reasoning
and making sense
What are the diagrams below about? Can you label a possi-ble order and write a state-
ment explaining each diagram?
I drew this picture by drawing a line
from the top right corner of a square
to the midpoint of each of the oppo-
site sides. Then I joined these two
midpoints with another line.
Can you see four triangles in the
square? What fraction of the area of
the square is each of these triangles?
How is this made using the first square? What is the shape that has been created
in the middle of this larger square? What fraction of the total area of the large
square does this shape take up?
Then I drew another picture:
KS3 REASONING
By Kulsoom Sheikh
This two day course was carried out in the Autumn Term 2016. The aim of the
session was for participants to:
have a better knowledge of what fluency is
make links with the new National Curriculum
recognise how manipulatives can help to develop children’s fluency in number
sense
This course was attended by teachers and teaching assistants from Hertfordshire
and Essex primary schools. On the first day the participants were encouraged to
play an active role in using a variety of manipulatives, which included Numicons,
Dienes, Dice, Place Value Counters and Cuisenaire Rods - Place value counters were
a novelty for the participants!
They were then encouraged to use ideas from the session to try out in their class-
rooms. On the second day of the course, the participants came back very much en-
thused. They were eager to present their findings and actively shared their experi-
ence with each other. They all had a positive experience with trying out the activi-
The participants worked in their year groups to evaluate the activities:
Here are some examples of the
activities that were carried out:
Quotes from the participants:
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Matrix Essex and Herts Maths Hub
c/o The Hertfordshire & Essex High School
Warwick Road
Bishop’s Stortford
Hertfordshire
CM23 5NJ
Phone: 01279 654127 ext 279
E-mail:
Not on our mailing list? Please email your details to: [email protected]
Follow us on twitter @matrixmathshub for updates
CORE MATHS UPDATE
By Tia Howes
In the Spring Term we are offering three Core Maths CPD courses. In January and February these sessions are directed towards schools teaching Core Maths for the first time from September 2017/18. The third course, in March, is focused on schools preparing for the 2017 Core Maths exam. I will jointly present the March course with Ben Gordon from Chelmer Valley High School, another Early Teaching School; Ben has been teaching Core Maths since 2014.
In addition to the Matrix Maths Hub events, the Core Maths Support Programme is also hosting a Regional Meeting in London; this provides an opportunity our Cluster schools to meet with other Clusters in the South East to share ideas and resources (and encouragement!).
We are already looking ahead to the Summer Term. I am planning a further three sessions, again two will be directed towards new teaching schools. The third session will focus on teaching using a problem solving approach, in this session I will jointly present with Val Pritchard from the FMSP; Val and I had our first planning meeting in December.
I am encouraged by the interest being shown in Core Maths and I receive regular requests for advice or further information from schools who attended CPD sessions in the autumn term.
FUTURE MATRIX MATHS HUB COURSES
Successful teaching and learning in GCSE Mathematics Higher &Foundation Tiers
Subject Knowledge Course for Teaching Assistants and Non-Specialists
Core Maths CPD Courses
KS2 Problem Solving Unpacked (2 day course)
2 day Subject Knowledge Course for Teaching Assistants and Non-Specialists
New & Aspiring Subject Leadership (available at 2 different venues)
Using Manipulatives to Develop Number Senses
Visit our website at www.matrixmathshub.co.uk for more details and to register
or email [email protected] for any other enquiries
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