Dear Colleagues,
As the school year comes to an end, many of you will need to change focus from the immediate crisis to plan for the beginning of the next school year. We are committed to supporting teachers for the return to school in September with some new services and materials. It’s important that we work together to ensure that pupils are given the best possible chance of success.
The first questions many of you may have are, how can you know where the gaps are, and what effect has a prolonged period away from ‘normal schooling’ had on pupils? In September, we will be releasing a new analytical assessment tool called Insights which is designed to help answer those questions.
Maths — No Problem! Insights analytical tool
Insights will be available free of charge until January 2021 for all schools with an active online Maths — No Problem! subscription. Schools who choose to use Insights will receive the printed Assessment Papers required to assess pupils when they return. Once the results of the Assessment Papers are entered into Insights, teachers will be able to pinpoint accurately and effortlessly the gaps in learning. This will be instrumental in planning any appropriate remediation, reteaching or scaffolding strategies when pupils return.
We will be contacting schools, asking them to sign up to use Insights in the coming weeks so we can get the printed Papers to them in time for September.
Once you have a clear understanding of where pupils are, what do you do next? We recognize that the 2014 National Curriculum and the Guidance for Teaching Mathematics at Key Stages 1 and 2 published on July 6, 2020 by the Department for Education both give guidance to teachers on what the government expects. We believe, however, that teachers will require made-to-measure tools and support to succeed in making hard decisions about content and coverage. We are producing additional guidance for teachers who use the Maths — No Problem! Primary Series in order to assist with this difficult task.
Maths — No Problem! Teacher Guides, lesson by lesson guidance for teachers and community support
In the middle of August, we will update the Maths — No Problem! Teacher Guides to include critical information for the challenges teachers will face. There will be clear guidance on whether each lesson is essential, can be combined with other lessons in the chapter, integrated with lessons from other year groups, tackled independently, taught in a blended environment or is non-statutory.
This additional support is in line with the national curriculum statutory and non-statutory requirements as well as the latest guidelines from the government.
For teachers who use Maths — No Problem! without a full subscription, information will be available in a downloadable PDF file from the Maths — No Problem! website.
Because we are stronger when we are united, we will be adding new functionality to the Teacher Guides in the middle of September. The guides will be enhanced in order for teachers to add contextual content and share it with their peers. This will allow teachers to collaborate by attaching lesson plans and working materials in the Teacher Guides so that everyone has access to what they need, when they need it.
Tools for teachers for classroom and remote teaching
Visualiser is a new teacher tool created explicitly for the teaching of mathematical concepts in the classroom or in a remote learning environment. It runs on any modern iPad and can be used with Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams and many other remote-meeting applications.
Guidance for parents
We will continue to support parents and guardians of pupils with Parent Guides, which is available for all parents of pupils who attend a school with a Maths — No Problem! Teacher Guides subscription. Over the course of the year, we will update and add to the information in Parent Guides to ensure that, where parents and guardians can help, they have the opportunity to do so in a meaningful way.
Support from Accredited Schools
Additional support is available from 40 Accredited Schools and we will be working closely with them to ensure they are there to help support you with any questions.
In summary
As always, we are focused on getting you what you need at the quality level that’s required for you to succeed: a measured response to the situation based on careful reflection. We are committed to making products that we can be proud of and that we would be happy to recommend to our friends and family. As members of our extended family, we think you deserve no less.
Returning to school in September is going to be difficult, but together we can succeed. As the French say, ‘Bon Courage’.
Yours sincerely,
Andy Psarianos
CEO of Maths — No Problem! and Chairman of the Fig Leaf Group
About Maths — No Problem!: Maths — No Problem! is a network of teaching resources backed by decades of research and refinement.
About maths mastery: Endorsed by the Department for Education, NCETM and Ofsted, maths mastery is an evidence-based, transformational approach to maths teaching that stems from high-performing Asian nations such as Singapore. It helps pupils develop a deep, long-term and adaptable understanding of maths through an inclusive approach where all children achieve. With well-developed and deeper mathematical fluency, children gain the ability to confidently tackle non-routine maths problems.
For all media inquiries, please contact Alison Crombie.
Email: alison@mathsnoproblem.com
Phone: 01892 577 119