Welcome to the first update on Maths across all the schools in our Trust. It has been a busy start to the year with new schemes of learning introduced across the Trust and it has been great to see the children flourishing in their Maths lessons.

Before our schools broke up for the Summer holidays, we made a bid for Maths funding from the Ashton on Mersey Maths Hub and we were delighted to be successful in winning this, despite facing strong competition. The funding has enabled the Trust to purchase additional concrete Maths resources that have been distributed across our schools. So far there has been a lot of positive feedback from both young people and staff about these resources and we are looking forward to seeing the lasting impact that they will have on our pupils at the end of the year and on their overall progress in Maths.

The topic for Maths this half term has been place value and addition. Below are some examples of how the resources are being used across the Trust to differentiate these topics and embed the learning.

Spring Brook Lower pupils have been using the resources to look at different representations of partitioning tens and ones with the various concrete manipulatives..

Spring Brook Upper pupils have been using the place value mats and the dienes blocks to partition hundreds, tens and units..

At Hollinwood Academy the resources have been used to illustrate the place values up to 10,000..

Two new interactive resources have been secured for the Trust and every pupil now has a login for both of them – if your child is unsure of their login for these websites then please contact the school. The first of these resources is www.HegartyMaths.com which is an amazing tool for pupils, staff and parents..

There are 626 video clips covering a wide range of mathematical skills and the website is a great way to keep track of your child’s progress in Maths. The top performing pupils across the Trust who have used this website so far are:

Certificates will be going home! Pupils can access the resource via a computer, an iPad or their mobile phone..

The second resource purchased for all of our young people is TT Rockstars..

Pupils can again access this via the website or by downloading the free App onto their iPad or mobile phone. The resource helps pupils to build on their times table skills and has created some excitement across the Trust! At Hollinwood Academy during the last two weeks of half term there will be an inter-form ‘Battle of the Bands’ competition and the winning form will receive a class prize. The top performing pupils across the Trust at the moment are:

The Key Stage 3Mat1 class at Hollinwood Academy have been working particularly hard on trying to achieve the Black Ninja status in their daily ‘Numeracy Ninja’ challenge..

Numeracy Ninjas is a numeracy intervention designed to fill gaps in pupils’ basic mental calculation strategies and also to empower them with the numeracy skills and fluency required to fully access GCSE Maths concepts when they move to Key Stage 4 study. We’re pleased to say that there are 3 pupils so far who have risen to the challenge and achieved ‘Black Ninja’ status..

Well done boys!

Finally, this September we had the pleasure of hosting the first LIME SEND session at New Bridge School in which Andy Walker gave an inspirational talk to pupils, parents and teachers from across the North West. It was great to hear the positive feedback from the guests who attended..

Andy was inspirational. It was heart-warming to hear of his positive outlook despite the challenges he has faced. It really put things into perspective. I would love for Andy to visit my school and speak to my students as I know he wouldn’t fail to inspire and motivate them all.

Andy was inspirational. It was also humbling listening to him talk and put a lot into perspective. He was funny and put his point over very well – grab each day of life and live it. I have made a poster of him and placed it on my 4Cs wall (confidence, challenge, commitment and control) Andy is the perfect example of all 4 and his story will hopefully inspire and motivate my students (as well as me!)

We are looking forward to October’s LIME SEND session with guest speaker Alan Edmiston (editor of Equals Magazine). If you would like to attend one of these events, you can sign up to attend at www.limecpd.co.uk

We’ll be bringing you more Maths news from across the Trust soon but please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s school if you have any questions.