The Sixty-Second Republic - Pop da pop pop, the beat don't stop until the break of term

[StaffRepFeistyClub]

You are most welcome to this school staff support thread to get us through stressful times. It is meant for school staff only – a sort of room of requirement for school staff to let off steam.

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Plus ... time, of course.

Poor kids.

A chicken cartoon

more that kids who need help with social/life skills struggle with academic learning as well.

I think that is less the case in primary - perhaps because some of the children in need of nurture in primary are there solely because of their family environment, not because of their own ability / SEN and older children are able to do more things for themselves? Or perhaps that by secondary that accumulated difficulty / disadvantage of being from chaotic homes etc inevitably leads to academic underperformance?

It is scary that we can all see the problem, we can all see how to solve it, but no one higher up will support or fund it. You can see the 'ceiling' kids reach when they have poor foundation knowledge. If you have no grasp of place value, multiplication and division, then everything else is almost incomprehensible.

I have gone back to basics with place value a couple of times and got our LSA to do the same. But that only supports one bit of the learning.

In my dreams, I'd have children approaching fractions as a topic over several weeks, looking at all the different ways you can think about fractions and how they relate to other maths topics.

We do this. Fractions for 3-4 weeks at a time, tiny step by tiny step.

Sadly I bottom set is too fast for some. I'm finding this at the minute. But there's only ever a couple right at the bottom who are finding Even bottom set maths too fast, and we don't have the staff to be able to slow down for those 2 but move everyone else on (because everyone needs help).

Exactly what I was thinking, Herc. You mind-reader.
☹️

It's so frustrating. There's so much hand-wringing and teacher-bashing about that PISA 'long tail', and stupid initiatives, yet the years roll on and the tail just sits there ...

@Piggywaspushed

I get what you are saying, maths people, but I do think that , to an extent, is what held my DS back a bit. Plus, also, we don't get the choice not to teach full content in other subjects. But they are assessed very differently. Maths is just really really really different. Which is why it is an issue my whole SLT being made up of them, and scientists.

We have this problem too with Maths as our SLT lead. Science is different as we can't miss a whole topic incase it comes up. The basica of that topic yes but we can't miss out a hard concept like covalent bonding incase it comes up. Bottom sets really struggle. There has to be a better way.

The twitter poll about giving Y10s a full maths paper is interesting. We give our Y10s a full mock and I think it is wrong. Of course they need to sit them in Y11 but we have higher kids sitting for 4 and a half hours unable to answer pretty much the whole paper. It's a waste of time. I'd prefer a Y10 exam that tests what they've been taught and a Y11 mock that prepares them for sitting the actual exam.

I don't see how you can teach a class 3D trig if they were shaky on normal trig. I mean, with maths, you have to make sure that they can do the pre-requisites. You can't teach solving simultaneous equations to a class that can't reliably solve normal equations either. It just doesn't make sense to push on.

For bottom sets a major issue is knowing times tables. You're trying to teach simplifying fractions and they can't identify factors.

However, they do have two calculator papers. Maybe we should focus on that and spend way more time given them calculators than trying to improve their numeracy?

Times tables are a biggie, noble.

There's been a massive drive to get times tables secure in most of the schools I've worked in over the last year. Not just in EYFS and KS1 but all the way into KS2.

It's definitely been increasing over the last few years.

Calculator paper has gone from Primary.

Which is odd, really.

Calculators can unlock learning - it can free up the mental space to explore areas, without the problems with arithmetic (number bonds, times tables being insecure) jamming up thinking space.

Oh well. 🤷‍♀️

My ds (14) can't do times tables. He just can't get them to stick. 2s,5s,10s fine and sometimes he guesses an answer but mostly he laboriously counts on. He can do simple algebra, for example, with a calculator but if he has to do the multiplication/division himself he gets nowhere. He's dyslexic.

In my dreams, I'd have children approaching fractions as a topic over several weeks, looking at all the different ways you can think about fractions and how they relate to other maths topics.

Someone mentioned "Maths No Problem" earlier in the thread. I visited a local primary who used it and they have a scheme of work which does that, huge blocks of time on fractions, then decimals, then percentages. Personally I was really impressed with what I saw. I wonder if there is enough to stretch the very able though.

Fascinating maths conversation tonight, thank you. We have 3 SoW for GCSE, for those taking additional maths, those taking higher and those taking foundation. It's a selective school and we do teach everything on the syllabus. I think there would be uproar from parents if something appeared in the exam that the children had not been taught. It's painful but we are selective so even our lowest attained are expected to get a minimum grade 4.

Tried a tutor and everything 🤷‍♀️

If they're foundation then they're not being taught everything on the syllabus though, Brie

I want Intermediate back.

However, they do have two calculator papers. Maybe we should focus on that and spend way more time given them calculators than trying to improve their numeracy? That's my strategy with my current year 10 bottom set. I'm doing starters on non-calculator skills but most of the main parts of my lessons they can use their calculators. They are getting so much better at most topics because their brains have more space for the maths now they don't have to think too hard about the numbers (which sounds weird but it's true)

Yes, sorry- I meant they'd be taught all topics for the foundation paper.

That's what I mean, Brie, the existence of a foundation paper which only has half the syllabus on it acknowledges that it is not appropriate to teach all children the full maths syllabus.

I think Maths No Problem is based on Singapore maths (??). So it's meant as little steps.

I saw it delivered in one school by a Maths Specialist and it was stunning.

The lessons were just extraordinarily rich explorations and, yes, there was lots of the more able.

I've also seen it delivered by non-maths specialists (such as myself) with mixed results.

In those cases, differentiation is usually achieved with the activities the CT organises.

M That sound tough for your DS. It's a shame he can't use a calculator.

Someone mentioned "Maths No Problem" earlier in the thread. I visited a local primary who used it and they have a scheme of work which does that, huge blocks of time on fractions, then decimals, then percentages. Personally I was really impressed with what I saw. I wonder if there is enough to stretch the very able though.

'Maths No Problem' is an example of a 'mastery maths' textbook. It's not the only one, but the general approach is one that is familiar to any primary school using a mastery approach, which is what we do.

The art of 'stretching' the most able within a small lesson objective (though it can be through making links with other previously taught areas of Maths) is definitely one of the hardest mindset shifts when moving to the approach, but it does come with practice!

Putting kids in for foundation is relatively new in my school, we used to enter everyone for higher. Agree it was pointless to be teaching grade 8/9 topics to all of them.

but most of the main parts of my lessons they can use their calculators

That will hopefully get over that situation when the calculator paper asks them to calculate 36% of something and they painfully find 10% etc by hand and get it wrong 😭

First thing we do when we get Y7s in September is get them over the whole 'using a calculator is cheating' thing.

Technically, we don't set. We have a top set in each year half, and then mixed ability. We might have a core group at the bottom end but not in all years.
We have literacy intervention in addition to English and a key skills group in year 8 and 9.