Page 1 of 1

Rationale

There is a huge link between attitudes and attainment in any subject, so if children enjoy and can be successful then they can become more receptive and resilient to learning new information. If schools can do this to support teaching, learning and assessment whilst supporting a child’s Active 30 minutes within a school environment, support classroom learning with activity across any subject areas seems vital.

Impact – Intervention versus Baseline

Those that attended the training were asked a series of questions on a 0 – 100 scale (0 = not at all and 100 = very much so) and following the 6-week delivery were asked the same questions to review the perceptive impact of the Active Maths.

Pre CPD 6 weeks Post

How active is teaching and learning? 45 78Are you happy with pupil attainment? 58 70Are pupils is engaged in teaching and learning? 64 82Do you pupils focus in lessons? 60 77Are pupils resilient to challenges within the subject? 53 74Do pupils enjoy the subject? 64 89Do you enjoy delivering the subject? 74 81Do you feel delivering Active Maths will impact on your subject? 80 94

“ I can’t believe how quick it was to get to grips with how Maths can be delivered actively” (Classroom Teacher)

“It was mayhem the first time I tried it…but once they got used to it, they and I loved it. I have seen my pupils who normally sit below expectations challenge and stretch themselves. I wouldn’t see that with them sitting down!” (Maths Coordinator)

The ideas are so simple. It doesn’t have to be a whole lesson it can be a recap activity, a plenary or to help consolidate learning the following day. I will have to run a whole school inset using this to support Maths across the school” (Maths Coordinator and Senior Leader)

The 6 weeks of delivery has shown an increase in the key factors that can contribute towards better engagement and attainment within a classroom and raises important questions for Primary Schools to consider when designing their curriculums.

Actions

A range of school staff attended the 1 day training, including Maths Coordinators, PE Coordinators, Senior Leaders and classroom teachers. The schools were asked to implement some of the Active Maths teaching ideas into their teaching in the 6 weeks following the training.

The aim was to develop a better attitude towards maths through these active methods and the 6 week process was to be a small snapshot to support this.

Some of the Active Maths teaching ideas included solution finding problems called “Pirate Gold” that required children to work in small groups to find the solution to a Maths question. The answers were in the “treasure chest” in the middle of the room to be collected once it had been worked out.

Background

15 staff from 12 Coventry schools attended a Youth Sport Trust Active Numeracy training day to engage teaching staff in active teaching methodologies to deliver engaging, curriculum led physical activity-based numeracy lessons.

Active MathsCoventry Primary Schools