NACE is proud to partner with the NRICH project at the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Mathematical Sciences, which offers free online resources to enrich the mathematics curriculum, provide challenging and meaningful activities, and develop mathematical thinking and problem-solving skills. In this blog post, the project’s director, Ems Lord, explains why and how NRICH is developing resources designed to get GCSE students seriously interested in Further Mathematics…

Entries for the Further Mathematics A-level have tripled in recent years, from around 5,000 students in 2005 to a staggering 15,000 by 2015 (source: JCQ). But one of the greatest recent success stories in mathematics is under threat.


Figure 1: Entries for Further Mathematics up to 2016 (source: JCQ)

The transformation of Further Mathematics has all the ingredients of a great news story, yet the latest figures are alarming. Anecdotal evidence from both schools and colleges indicate a staggering 50% drop in the number of students opting to study Further Mathematics this year.

Recent changes in national policy promoting the study of three A-levels have hit Further Mathematics – often regarded as a fourth option – harder than most subjects. The NRICH team at the University of Cambridge has joined up with colleagues at the University of Oxford to address concerns regarding the current decline in Further Mathematics entries. The realisation that many GCSE students do not appreciate the opportunities offered by Further Mathematics led to our new set of free resources for schools, which we’ve called Adventures with Complex Numbers.

Why focus on complex numbers?

What resources are available?

So, they’re interested… What next?

London’s renowned Saatchi Gallery is known for championing the work of previously unheard-of artists, offering a springboard to fame. Living up to this reputation, in March this year the gallery will feature work by some of the UK’s youngest and least-publicised artists – displaying creations from a cross-disciplinary project completed by Year 4 learners at NACE member and Challenge Award-accredited Pencoed Primary School.
 
Titled “Creating our Welsh identity”, the project started with a focus on learners identified as at risk of underachieving, including the more able – but its success led to elements being rolled out across the entire year group, and the school.
 
Class teacher Chloe Maddocks, who coordinated the project, explains more…

The context:

Promoting creativity and creative thinking is part of our school vision, and we recognise these as key life skills. However, this was an area we felt we could develop further.
 
We developed the “Creating our Welsh identity” project with the aim of raising academic attainment, improving learners’ self-esteem and confidence, and developing their creative skills – combined with a focus on numeracy and links to the year group topic. We also wanted to explore learner and staff perceptions of what it means to be creative, and to develop this thinking and awareness of broader creativity.
 
Having scoped out the project, we successfully applied through the Arts Council of Wales for a grant of £10,000, to be split between Year 1 (2016-17) and Year 2 (2017-18).

The project:

Running for the duration of the spring term, the project was linked to the Year 4 theme, The Stuarts. Initially, we selected 18 learners, targeting those at risk of underachieving. Due to the project’s success, we subsequently adopted some of the broader approaches across the rest of the year group and throughout the school.
 
At the start, learners did some research around the history of the Union Jack. Exploring symmetry, measuring and shapes, they then created their own version of the flag using fabric and donated materials, incorporating aspects of their own identity. Members of the community volunteered to teach learners to use a sewing machine, so they could stitch on their initials. The group also created personal identity drawings, based on research into the history of their family, incorporating words and symbols that represented them inside an outline of their body.
 
Numeracy was embedded from the start, right through to the end. We incorporated this in planning so all 60 learners within the year group were also taking part in the numeracy tasks. We looked at which National Literacy and Numeracy Framework (LNF) strands we could include, as well as planning our maths, language and topic lessons around the project. Focusing on real-life problems and tasks that reinforced specific numeracy strands – pricing activities, comparing costs from different supermarkets, profits and budgeting – allowed learners to relate to the importance of numeracy in everyday life.
 
More able and talented (MAT) learners were selected to act as leaders of certain parts of the project and were given the task of planning and coordinating the celebration event. All activities were differentiated to provide appropriate levels of challenge, and weekly evaluations allowed staff to tailor sessions to meet learners’ needs.

Learner engagement:

During the project we worked alongside Haf Weighton, a textile artist from Penarth. Haf brought some lovely ideas and had a wonderful working relationship with both the adults and children involved. She was selected by the learners themselves through an interview process, inspiring them with her style of art and her passion and love for her work.
 
Throughout, the learners were a key influence in determining the project’s direction, and were particularly active in devising the final outcome – the afternoon tea party. I had weekly conversations with them, in which they were able to evaluate their own work and the work of Haf, as well as discussing ways for the project to develop.

Celebration and exhibition:

To celebrate their work, learners hosted an afternoon tea party for parents and carers, sharing the project outcomes and showing off what they had learned throughout the topic. Around this event, learners had the opportunity to:

• Work alongside a candle maker
• Work alongside members of the community to create cushions and print
• Research what types of foods would have been served at a Stuart tea party
• Research the history of afternoon tea
• Take a trip into Pencoed village to purchase food
• Work out pricing, budget and profit
• Be filmed and interviewed by Heno, S4C

On the day of the party, parents and carers had the opportunity to sit in on either a literacy or numeracy lesson, tailored to the theme of the Stuarts.
 
Through Haf’s connections, we’ve also been able to reach a much wider audience. The artwork created was displayed in our very own exhibition in the HeARTh Gallery at the Llandough Hospital. Haf also shared details of the project at the Knit and Stitch Show in London, and – after the success of the project was shared online through our school website and Twitter – the prestigious Saatchi Gallery was very interested to work alongside Haf and to share the learners’ work.

Impact:

The impact for learners was far greater than we initially anticipated. All made progress with their weekly Big Maths scores and overall numeracy skills. They were also able to see the benefits of numeracy in everyday tasks, benefitting from the cross-curricular approach.
 
As well as developing a multitude of literacy, numeracy and creative skills, there was also an improvement in learners’ general confidence, wellbeing and self-esteem. For MAT learners, independent thinking and problem solving improved, and all learners felt a strong sense of pride and achievement in their work. Opportunities to see their work displayed, and to share their learning with parents and carers, provided inspiration to broaden their horizons and aspirations for the future.
 
There’s also been a wider impact, as we’ve shared the excellent practice across the school. In addition, the project has raised awareness about the importance of creativity among learners, staff and parents, showcasing how much can be achieved.

Next steps:

We are now in our second year of this project, and intend to continue running projects in this way. We’ve also been involved in school-to-school collaboration and shared our experiences in networking events across the Central South Consortium to promote this project to other schools. And of course we’re also planning to take the learners to the Saatchi Gallery in March, so they can experience the exhibition first-hand!
 
Chloe Maddocks has been a full-time teacher at Pencoed Primary School for four years, teaching Years 3 and 4. As coordinator of the “Creating our Welsh identity” project, she’s enjoyed opportunities to develop her leadership and project management skills, learner engagement, and share expertise with peers at other schools. She’s passionate about showing how creative skills can be incorporated into cross-curricular learning.
 
Pencoed Primary School has been a NACE member since 2014 and achieved the NACE Challenge Award in July 2015. With approximately 600 learners enrolled, the school is dedicated to developing networks of good practice and continually reviewing and improving its provision for all learners within an ethos of challenge for all.
 
Do you have an inspiring project to share with the NACE community? Contact us to share a case study.

NACE associates Christine Chen and Lindsay Pickton are experienced primary English advisors, with a specialisation in supporting more able learners. In this blog post, they explain how grammar games can help to foster creativity, engagement with the composition process, and a lasting love of language.
 
If you’re not already using grammar games in your classroom, here are five reasons to start now…

1. They set a high bar for all learners

The great thing about grammar games is that they enable a “low threshold, high ceiling” approach to learning, enabling all learners to experience the possibilities of language manipulation. While some games offer potential forms of differentiation, the key – as with any learning – is having high expectations of all.

2. They’re fun!

There’s a common misconception that grammar is intrinsically boring and dry. Grammar games help to break this down, providing opportunities for teachers and learners alike to have fun with grammar, through activities including dice games, physical manipulation of sentence structures and simple drama strategies.

3. They put grammar in context

Grammar teaching and learning is commonly approached through isolated exercises, which may help some children with test preparation, but do little to support composition. Grammar games can be used to explore grammar in the wider context of language usage, making it more likely that learners will apply new learning and continue to experiment.

4. They encourage risk-taking

Collaborative grammar play transforms what could be a purely internal process into an enjoyable shared learning experience. When children experiment with application in writing following these collaborative games, they are more likely to take risks and to feel in control, in a joyful way.

5. They nurture a love of language

Playing with language fosters a love of it. This is important for all learners, including more able writers and communicators. Even if they don’t know the terminology, these learners are able to adapt sentence structures and vocabulary choices to achieve a desired impact on their readership. Grammar games further encourage them to take pleasure in exploring and developing their skills as young writers.

One to try: “Every word counts”

This is a dice game for manipulating meaning and exploring nuance through vocabulary choices. It’s one of the most popular and adaptable games we’ve invented; as children play, they experience tangibly the descriptive power of every word in a sentence. 
 
Create a six-word sentence, in which no word class is repeated, and list the word classes in order.

e.g. They played in their tiny garden.

1. Pronoun
2. Verb
3. Preposition
4. Determiner
5. Adjective
6. Noun

Throw a dice. With each throw, children must change the corresponding word in the sentence, and discuss (as a group or whole class) what has changed about the scene or story.
 
e.g. Throw a 4 – change the determiner:

• They played in their tiny garden.
• They played in her tiny garden.
• They played in the tiny garden.
• They played in this tiny garden.

 Learners discuss how changes made affect the meaning. With each change, how does the word choice affect the story?

1. Invest in high-quality training for all teachers and support staff

2. Introduce a weekly vocabulary lesson

3. Focus on high-quality teaching of reading

4. Create a language-rich environment

5. Provide rich writing experiences

History as an investigative process

Defining a historical method

Harnessing the power of objects

• Accessibility, through the ability for learners to raise their own questions
• Multisensory approaches providing different access points for a range of learners
• “Realness” – aiding understanding of abstract ideas through a focus on tangible objects
• Cross-curricular opportunities for literacy, incorporation of other forms of evidence and other subject areas

Let learners find their own challenge

• One-off mysteries (KS1/KS2): a collection of objects to consider and a simple guided outcome, for instance “Whose suitcase might this be?”
• Developed enquiries (KS2/KS3): building on initial discoveries to develop an entire scheme of work, for instance “Why was this object found in the Arctic?”, leading into a wider investigation of John Franklin’s doomed final voyage to the Arctic, linking more widely to Arctic exploration.
• Self-led enquiries (KS3): initial collection of evidence and a problem, leading to a project including opportunities for learners to define their own questions and route, selecting appropriate evidence from a wide range and engaging with controversies.  

Enquiry as part of a wider pedagogy

• National Maritime Museum for schools – including information about school visits, CPD opportunities, downloadable resources and more.
• Royal Museums Greenwich collections – searchable database of the Royal Musuems Greenwich collections, ranging from maps and charts to a taxidermy penguin! Includes images and information which can easily be adapted as resources for teaching and learning.
• Spartacus Educational – free-to-use site hosting historical resources and materials, useful for creating banks of evidence to build an enquiry.
• Thinking History – website of Ian Dawson, one of the founders of the Schools History Project, with a huge array of fantastic enquiry-based sessions available for free.