Case Study: Dilhorne Endowed CofE Primary School
How supplementing existing maths provision with Number Builders has added depth and breadth
About the school
As a Church of England school, Dilhorne’s aim is to immerse their pupils in an environment based on values of encouragement, trust and friendship. As well as developing pupils as good, active citizens, the school also offers a well-planned and sequenced curriculum in which learning is revisited, and knowledge and skills are built incrementally based on secure prior learning. The most recent Ofsted inspection report observes that teachers choose activities that they know children will enjoy and, as a result, children want to learn.
Why did they decide to opt into the Number Builders trial?
The school’s ambitions for the trial, which ran over the Autumn term of 2023, were to enable more children to achieve mastery in Key Stage 1 maths and to invigorate their maths teaching with new ideas and resources.
Dilhorne uses Busy Ant Maths as its core maths scheme, supplemented with other manipulatives. Although teachers are confident and experienced, the impact of Covid-19 has left children with gaps in their mathematical knowledge and, as in many schools, this has an ongoing impact on planning and delivery of the maths curriculum. Achieving mastery for all remains one of their biggest challenges. Number Builders’ ‘concrete’ approach to developing number fluency and securing number facts addresses this priority.
Opting into the Number Builders pilot provided the opportunity to expand the range of manipulatives for children, and to use the accompanying training and resources to upskill staff in using tactile resources to embed maths concepts.
Using the resources in a mixed-age class
The scheme was predominantly used for group work with a mixed-age Reception and Year 1 class, with the activity sheets and cards used to reinforce and embed the whole class learning.
With Busy Ant Maths well established as their core maths programme, teachers decided to use the manipulatives and activity sheets as additional
supplementary activities to reinforce and embed the learning objectives for each lesson. While the higher attainers at the school need to be stretched and challenged, lower attainers need accessible mathematical resources to scaffold their learning.
Teachers agreed that embedding the resources into their lessons was easy, and the notes on the activity cards were clear and accessible, meaning that TAs and teachers could quickly work out what to do. Staff agreed that the programme is supportive, easy to use, and can be used flexibly to supplement an existing programme, adding depth and breadth to lessons without adding to teachers’ workload.
What worked well about Number Builders?
The n-bars tied in well with the school’s core maths programme.
When supplementing a core programme with additional resources, it’s essential that they are straightforward to use, and add value without increasing teachers’ workload.
Feedback from teachers and TAs during the trial highlighted that the manipulatives were a valuable resource for teaching the Number strand in their core programme. It enabled children to visualise number bonds, providing a concrete representation of addition and subtraction. At the end of the pilot, the teacher providing feedback reported that she observed good levels of engagement from children using the n-bars.
The activity cards and sheets helped to stretch and challenge higher attainers.
Deepening the learning through additional ‘stretch and challenge’ activities was supported through the activity cards, which were available as part of continuous provision in one of the mixed year group classes. “The children enjoyed challenging themselves and applying their learning,” noted the class teacher. And if children enjoy their learning, they are more likely to want to learn, too. The activity sheets were also rated as a valuable additional resource for extension activities, providing a good amount of prepared content.
Final thoughts
Overall, piloting Number Builders has saved time spent on planning and preparing lessons and strengthened the connections between abstract, pictorial and concrete concepts, helping children to achieve mastery in number facts.
Children and staff enjoyed the tactile n-bars, which they used confidently to support learning.
