Parkfield Community School Birmingham, UK
What makes Parkfield an Accredited School?
Many of the children at Parkfield come from disadvantaged backgrounds, or speak English as an additional language. Mobility is slightly above the national average. Despite this, we observed pupils talking confidently about maths and displaying a fantastic mathematical vocabulary.
Maths is evident everywhere in Parkfield; we even saw maths on the stairs. The school is actively involved in their local Maths Hub, and support schools across the country as far afield as Jersey.
School at a glance:
- Large primary school of 700~ students
- Converted to an academy in 2013
- Situated in one of the 10% most deprived neighbourhoods in the country
- Now the lead school in a multi-academy trust and a national support school
- Rated by Ofsted as “Outstanding”
“The leadership at Parkfield views high-quality CPD as essential to teaching.”
– Helen Hackett, Former Maths Lead
In their own words
Our Maths — No Problem! journey
Our newly appointed maths lead began making changes to maths teaching and learning back in 2013 introducing the Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract (CPA) approach and investing in staff training. We introduced Maths — No Problem! textbooks in January 2015 as part of the Maths Hub National Textbook Project run by the NCETM.
In 2016–17 we took part in the Shanghai Teacher Exchange Project and were selected as a host school. During the two weeks of the exchange, 217 teachers observed lessons and a further 360 have attended Shanghai feedback events since January.
Our maths lead led a work group for Central Maths Hub to support other schools looking to introduce textbooks. They also delivered talks and workshops on behalf of the Central Hub on the benefits of using textbooks, and practical strategies for implementation.
Maths — No Problem! in our school
Following a successful trial, we introduced the Maths — No Problem! approach to the whole school in 2015, with textbooks, workbooks and journals strategically introduced with accompanying professional development (planning support, coaching, team teaching, Lesson Study, MNP [Maths — No Problem!] training, subject knowledge enhancement).
On a weekly basis we welcome teachers/school leaders from around the country to observe maths teaching, look at books and discuss how we implemented Maths — No Problem! in our school.
School contact details
Contact name:
Katie Susarla – Maths Lead
Address:
Parkfield Community School
Academy Trust
Parkfield Road
Saltley
Birmingham
B8 3AX
Phone number:
0121 464 1131
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