St Mary’s C.E. Primary School
Manchester, UK
What makes St Mary's an Accredited School?
With 75% of their pupils speaking English as an additional language, St Mary’s needed a universal approach to mathematics teaching that would ensure every child’s needs were met. They started working with Maths — No Problem! In 2014 to fulfill that need.
Diversity and collaboration are viewed as fundamental to an enriched learning experience at St Mary’s. They prioritise professional development and share the belief at the heart of the MNP approach that every child can succeed in mathematics. They exemplify what it means to pursue continuous improvement and are always willing to share their experiences with other schools looking to make the switch.
School at a glance:
- Large two form primary school
- 75% of pupils are EAL
- Rated “Outstanding” by Ofsted
“CPD is a priority and we invest in the highest quality training for our staff, investing in extensive training from Dr Yeap Ban Har.”
– Fiona Hagsharfi, Deputy Headteacher
In their own words
Our Maths — No Problem! journey
We began our journey in 2014 at St Mary’s. We realised that to make a difference within our maths teaching we needed to do things differently. The curriculum was solid enough and we were achieving well, but the resilience of the learning was just not good enough. We were finding that the basics were too easy to be unembedded and we needed to think more creatively and with more clarity about the needs of our children.
Through observation and professional dialogue, we realised that there were aspects of our teaching that were creating barriers to learning that need to be addressed. We needed more opportunities for our children to deeply embed their learning, to apply and develop skills, and to cultivate mathematical dialogue.
Through collaboration with North West One Maths Hub and by making the most of Maths — No Problem! professional development opportunities, we have been able to develop a culture where everyone is 100 percent behind the Singapore approach to maths learning and continually working on further developing their practice.
Maths — No Problem! in our school
The governors of St Mary’s have been very supportive of the Singapore maths approach and have made it a key element of the school’s development plan. We were therefore able to move our maths lead and assistant head away from class teaching, enabling them to support the rest of the staff. They now deliver lots of team teaching and subject training, and they drive the school’s commitment to mathematics as a top priority. Our current maths lead continues to work closely with teachers to develop skills and knowledge throughout the school.
MNP is now fully embedded throughout Years 1–6. Textbooks and journals are a part of daily learning and online teaching resources have become an integral component of lesson planning and implementation.
What’s more, we’ve noticed a growing confidence and subject expertise in our teachers as well as high levels of competence and enthusiasm for maths among our children. We never stop learning and always have things to work on but the MNP programme is the bedrock to facilitate these improvements.
School contact details
Contact name:
Fiona Hagsharfi – Deputy Headteacher
Address:
St Mary’s C.E. Primary School
Adscombe Street
Moss Side
Manchester
M16 7AQ
Phone number:
0161 226 1773
Visit St Mary’s School Website
Twitter: @StMarysMossSide
