Mastery Teaching at Valentine Primary School
Maths at Valentine Primary School is built upon the values of Mastery Teaching. We are a member of the Teacher Research Group (TRG) which is run by the Solent Maths Hub and overseen by lead Mastery Specialist, Carla Laney of St John’s Primary School. The purpose of the TRG is to disseminate Mastery training to local schools so that they may improve children’s depth of understanding of the underlying principles of mathematics. This should enable our pupils to apply their skills more fluently to different situations and contexts.
Anna Rutter (Deputy Head, Teaching and Learning) and Russell Purchase (Maths Leader) have been involved with the TRG since September 2017. As part of this group we have: observed Mastery Teaching by experienced teachers from Singapore and local schools; taken part in lesson studies which explore the planning, teaching and learning of the lessons observed; and contributed to planning twilight sessions. With the support of Carla Laney we have conducted a learning walk at VPS in order to identify areas of focus and create our school ‘Mastery Teaching’ action plan. We also have plans in place for Carla to return to VPS in the near future to support our Year 5 team in their implementation of Mastery Teaching and help review our Action Plan. This will coincide with attendance at further TRG professional development.
The leadership structure for Mathematics at VPS has been adapted in order to make sure our vision for Maths has been spread throughout our large school quickly and consistently. Since September, a specific maths team has been formed, with each year group having an ambassador who meets regularly with and is led by Maths Leader, Russell Purchase and Deputy Head, Anna Rutter. These ambassadors have all received Mastery training including observing Mastery teaching, taking part in lesson studies and contributing to TRG year specific planning sessions. The maths ambassadors work closely with the Maths leadership team so that they are able to lead planning, monitor progress, check consistency and report to governors on Maths in their specific year group.
At Valentine we have chosen to focus on some specific key principles of Mastery Teaching which we feel are appropriate for our setting and the stage we are at on our Mastery journey:
Planning - To develop the small step planning for teaching for mastery.
Teaching -
There is a focus on important Maths vocabulary specific to the concept being taught. The vocabulary needed to convey the Maths leaning is carefully thought out during the planning stage and is given a high profile at the teaching stage. Teachers will use stem sentences repeatedly which will demonstrate to the children the necessary maths vocabulary and its correct use. These stem sentences can be built upon or added to as the learning experiences and concepts are developed. Children are expected to use these stem sentences themselves to describe and explain their understanding of the maths learning. Evidence from learning walks and observations, as well as the work in children’s books demonstrates deeper conceptual understanding, in particular through their reasoned explanations and use of key vocabulary.
We have invested in Maths resources that we believe help children embed their understanding of maths concepts so that they may later be able to understand and deal with maths problems presented in pictorial and abstract representations. Children in all year groups are encouraged to use manipilatives. In particular these are most evident (but not exclusively) when a new concept is introduced so that children are able to gain an understanding of the underlying principles of what they are learning before they move on to more formal methods of working. Evidence of use of manipulatives can be seen on tables and work spaces in classrooms, through photographs in books as well as teacher and pupil references in books.
This is one of the foundations of Mastery teaching and has been a big change from the way we traditionally taught Maths at Valentine. Whole class learning means that all children begin lessons at the same start point. There has been a move away from static ability based groups with children completing differentiated tasks based on their expected level of understanding. Now you will see all children completing the same activities, usually led by the teacher introducing the learning focus and the appropriate language during a whole class learning stage.
All children in the class (with the exception of some SEND children) will usually have the same worksheet in their books and it can appear as though there is little differentiation. However, this is not the case. The marking codes (detailed below) help sign-post a child’s level of understanding through the amount and nature of support given. Furthermore, the accuracy and detail given in the children’s reasoned explanations also help staff differentiate between children who are working at greater depth, those who are working at national expectation and those who are working towards the expected standard. Teachers know the children in their classes and they are aware of the children who are likely to need support as well as those who should be challenged to show evidence of greater depth understanding. However, it is important to recognise that the constant feedback and targeted questioning between teacher and the class means that this is a fluid process. All children accessing Mastery Teaching should be encouraged and expected to show greater depth understanding at times.
Whole class learning involves a lot of fast-paced questioning by the teacher, partner talk and sharing ideas. This gives the teacher an opportunity to gauge the understanding of individuals and the class as a whole, and ensure key vocabulary and stem sentences are being used accurately.
Children will then move on to independent practice/fluency which gives them the opportunity to show their understanding and ‘practise’ the skills that they have been learning. At this time the teacher and support staff can question individual children on the work that they are doing and challenge children to demonstrate their depth of understanding or clarify misconceptions if necessary. Teachers and support staff use marking codes to show the level of support given (I = independent, P/W = Partner work, G = Guided work, VF = Verbal feedback given). If they get the chance, fast graspers are able to move onto a further challenge before the teacher brings the class back together to go through the independent practice and challenge work. This is an opportunity to reinforce the learning from the beginning of the lesson and can be used for children to mark/correct their own work in blue editing pen. Evidence of the blue pen and whether it has been used to correct or mark work can help denote the level of the child’s understanding for teacher assessment.
Next, there is usually an opportunity for children to ‘Go Deeper’ in their learning with a reasoning or problem solving task. The teacher will set this up as they see fit. They may decide that certain children will work independently or with a partner while others work in a more guided capacity with the support of the teacher or support staff. All the while there are opportunities for adults to probe children’s understanding with questioning. Often children will be required to give written explanations of their understanding to show greater depth and apply the mathematical language and stem sentences to the work they have done.
Overall, we have seen very positive results from the introduction and implementation of Mastery Teaching in Maths at VPS. Through scrutiny of pupils’ books it is clear that pupils are accessing core mathematical concepts at a greater depth. Their written explanations are more accurate and the correct use of mathematical language and stem sentences is embedded across the school. We are confident that this will continue to improve pupil engagement and, ultimately lead to better Maths outcomes in all key stages.
Further evidence of impact from Local Authority visit – 23/01/2018