Rosetta Primary School
Newham, UK

In their own words

Our Maths — No Problem! journey

We are always looking for ways to provide the best learning experiences for our children. A big part of this is understanding that our staff need to feel confident in what they are teaching. After deciding to use and implement Maths — No Problem!, we knew we had to empower teachers with an understanding of why it had the potential to be so effective if used correctly.

Our Maths Leads are passionate and knowledgeable and are always working to ensure that they share their expertise and understanding of the subject. The natural progression was to share their engaging approach and knowledge of pedagogy in using the MNP resources with their peers, enabling them to embark on the same journey.

When we first investigated the use of the MNP series, our Deputy Head at the time — who is now our School Improvement Officer ± attended an in-depth MNP course and visited Shanghai with a group of Senior Leaders as part of a maths mastery project. With our Senior Leadership team, our Deputy Head encouraged and supported the implementation of Maths — No Problem!.

At the beginning of the 2014-15 academic year, we made a bold decision to roll out the MNP scheme across the whole school. At the time, the scheme was available from Year 1 to 4, with the Year 5 and 6 materials being available online. This required teachers to have a strong understanding of the background of the approach and through training and sharing practise, we were able to achieve this.

By the end of the Autumn term, the materials for Upper KS2 were delivered. It was a challenging year, but one that led us to grow as practitioners and become secure in the foundations of the Singapore method. Immediately following the initial roll out of MNP in the school, we had a whole-school Inset day delivered by an MNP consultant. It was fantastic for all of our staff to be a part of this at the beginning of our journey.

The main contributing factor for choosing MNP series was the strong background research supporting its ideologies. The respected and long-standing theories from the likes of Bruner and Piaget provided affirmation for our belief in the methods of teaching outlined in the MNP series. A deep understanding of the CPA approach, allowed the real life links — which we had been yearning for as a school — to become tangible. We now know that our school’s teaching of Mathematics has improved greatly through systematic monitoring and timely, current CPD.

Maths — No Problem! in our school

We are now in our fourth year of implementing the scheme in our school; our teaching staff have been overjoyed with the simplicity of the resources and detailed support provided by the online guide. The progress of Maths teaching in our school has been remarkable and the expertise of our teachers is always strengthening. There has been a particular improvement in the oracy of our children, as well as their ability to explain their mathematical thinking coherently in their Maths journals. Linked to this, we have taken part in the ‘Mayor’s Fund Count On Us’ challenge and one can see how the quality teaching from the Singapore approach to Maths has had a momentous impact.

Additionally, as a school we arrange whole-school Maths competitions to engage the pupils in their learning, such as a ‘Beat the Teacher’ competition as well as a ‘Multiplication Facts World Cup’. The children love it! Furthermore, our subject leads have taken part in a teaching research group with the ‘London North East Maths Hub’, which has helped us develop our understanding of teaching for mastery.

It is important to us that we continue to build on our approach to teaching for mastery as we want to ensure the best learning experiences for our children. Our CPD has therefore been ongoing and precisely personalised to meet the needs of our teachers.

At the beginning of our journey, we sought out the support from an accredited school and organised numerous visits for groups of our staff to attend Three Bridges Primary School. Having groups of Teachers attend allowed for fantastic professional discussions and an effective dissemination of knowledge for all our teachers. We also used our local contacts to visit schools in the area that had begun to use the MNP resources. We regularly use the London North East Maths Hub as a source of training when areas come up that we feel need addressing or further information.

Through the Hub, we learnt of the Teacher Research Groups (TRGs) and joined a pilot in the academic year 2016-17; this process continued throughout the 2017-18 academic year and so much has been learnt from our participation. The TRGs gave members of staff the opportunity to observe the Shanghai lesson exchange; a thoroughly enlightening experience.

As part of our Multi-Academy Trust, the Maths Leads across seven schools meet regularly to share good practice and discuss prevalent topics. Most recently, one of our Maths Leads became a Mastery Specialist Teacher through the London North East Maths Hub. This opportunity provided her with a wealth of training, which she in turn shares through staff meetings as well as middle and senior leadership. She will be involved in the professional development of neighbouring schools in the development of Mastery in their schools. The second Maths Lead visited China as part of a cultural exchange, and relished the opportunity to see Maths being taught there, using their experience to further develop our practice.

We have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to the effective implementation Maths — No Problem! and will continue to do so in our relentless drive to provide the very best in maths teaching in our school.

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