Mathletics case study: Ayios Nikolaos Primary School in Cyprus
Posted on 8th Sep 2017 in School News, Mathematics
How a new, online approach to learning mathematics has helped to galvanise learning at a Ministry of Defence primary school in Cyprus...
About the school
Ayios Nikolaos is one of four Ministry of Defence primary schools in Cyprus. It has just 140 pupils aged 3-11. When pupils leave at the end of Year 6 they typically reach above average standards in reading and mathematics.
It was rated Good by Ofsted in an inspection in November 2016 where they said: “Teachers routinely plan lessons that provide interesting and varied activities that stimulate pupils’ interests.” They picked out mathematics for special praise: “Leaders have developed high-quality plans to develop the curriculum even further in mathematics in order to fully meet the requirements of the current national curriculum and to further improve pupils’ mathematical reasoning skills.”
However, as with other MOD schools the school population changes all the time and the number of children and staff who join or leave other than at the normal times is exceptionally high. According to Ofsted, 93% of all pupils either left or joined the school in the 2015/16 academic year.
The Challenges Faced
Suzanne Baxter is now in her eighth year as Mathematics Leader. Part of her role has been to raise the profile of mathematics within the school and to improve results.
One challenge has been the new National Curriculum which requires much more reasoning so now children have to use mathematical language to justify the strategies they have used. There is also more problem-solving and children need to be aware of different approaches. The changeover from the old to the new National Curriculum has been testing for children and staff and it has become apparent that there are some gaps in knowledge which need to be plugged if pupils are to do themselves justice in SATs.
Suzanne has been working towards the National Professional Qualification for Senior Leadership (NPQSL) and has been focusing on teaching and learning and raising standards. She has been providing Continuing Professional Development for Teachers and Learning Support Assistants (LSAs) and measuring impact. As part of this she needed to identify mathematical resources that would be effective but, just as importantly, that teachers, LSAs and parents would be comfortable using.
The Solution
Suzanne decided to start in a fairly small way by running a trial with Mathletics’ award-winning interactive site for half a term at the end of the 2015-16 academic year. She explained that she wanted to make sure that it was going to be an effective solution and that the pupils would enjoy it: “Sometimes we spend thousands on a product, find it does not work for pupils and have to cancel the subscription.”
She was delighted to find that Mathletics was not just a comprehensive resource but that it could be used in so many different ways. She began by advertising a maths club after school and quickly found that she had a group of 20 children who were keen mathematicians. She decided to set up a second group, an intervention group with four children from each class, 16 in total, who were selected because they were struggling.
The club proved to be so successful with even the weaker students really enjoying what they were doing. Now over 50% of key stage two children come to the Maths Club. The second stage was to integrate Mathletics into the early morning activities. This is a carousel where children select different tasks and Mathletics on an iPad/computer is now proving popular.
Next, she introduced Mathletics into lessons so it was on the timetable every week. She also presented the concept of Mathlete of the Month and ran in-service training to show staff how the program could be used as a teaching tool in lessons.
Parents are also enthusiastic. Suzanne held a meeting at the beginning of the 2016/17 academic year to showcase Mathletics and many parents are now happy to support their children: “They like the little person on the side who gives them explanations; they aren’t at a loss anymore to pass on explanations to their children and this gives them confidence.”
At the beginning the children were spending just half an hour - the minimum - doing Athletics activities and weren’t keen to do more but now it has taken on a life of its own. “They evidently picked up on my passion for Mathletics. I have seen a real difference with some learners. Four pupils in my class only need a few more Mathletics gold bar rewards to complete all the work for the year and we still have a term to go!”
The children themselves have become great ambassadors. It started with the children who attended maths who would say, “You need to come and have a go at this.” Gradually it took off and once it was introduced into the early morning learning sessions the momentum built. They enjoy the problem-solving aspect. They are also motivated by rewards such as getting the gold bars or being Mathlete of the Month.
They were very excited by the recent online Maths Challenge and were ecstatic to find that they were in the top 10 of 300 or so schools that entered.
The Benefits
The pupils find it easier to revise and consolidate their learning and Suzanne has noticed that now they are using mathematical language: “Whereas they used to say they had been doing maths or sums, now they say “I’ve been learning about measurement”, or “We are doing fractions.”
Suzanne’s favourite tools are the teacher assessments that let her quickly set tasks for homework and find specific work to plug gaps. She also likes the range and variety of activities and feels that the fact that children only answer 10 questions each time keeps them on target.
Mathletics is a great time-saver. It is up-to-date and covers every single area for the new National Curriculum. Mathletics has had a great impact on KS2 pupils at Ayios Nikolaos and now Suzanne Baxter is working hard on plans to introduce it for KS1 pupils next academic year.
"The assessment opportunities within Mathletics are brilliant and now we can see where we need to put in an intervention. It is so easy to set a homework task targeting weaker areas or to get together a small group of children who can go off and work on a Mathletics task with support from a LSA."
Suzanne Baxter, Mathematics Leader, Ayios Nikolaos Primary School
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