Case Study: St Frideswide CofE Primary School
How Number Builders has helped to nurture and develop curiosity, collaboration and a love of maths
About the school
Children’s wellbeing sits at the heart of St Frideswide, and informs every aspect of school life. This is an accredited nurture-based school, which means that the school ethos and curriculum is based around nurture-led principles. SLT at the school believe passionately that, for children to flourish and succeed, an holistic approach based on their social and emotional needs and learning readiness is essential. “We do a lot of work looking at why the children behave as they do, are they ready to learn, about where they are developmentally,” Fiona explains. Learning is adapted to the children, not vice versa.
The school ethos is to nurture brave, courageous and joyful learners who collaborate with each other.
In their latest Ofsted report, the inspector notes:
“Pupils thrive in this happy place, where kindness is at the heart of the school community.”
The school serves a diverse community, in which a third of children are EAL, a third are eligible for free school meals, and over a quarter receive SEN support.
How was Number Builders used?
l In this case study, Fiona Procter, Deputy Head at St Frideswide CofE Primary School, describes how she used Number Builders with a mixed-age intervention group of 20 children for the first term of the 2023/24 school year.
l Most children were in Year 1, although the class includes a few Year 2 pupils, too. All were working behind ARE, at Reception level.
l Lessons followed the scheme’s Reception planning.
l The school uses White Rose Maths and Big Maths as their core programmes, supplemented with a range of manipulatives.
Why did they decide to opt into the Number Builders trial?
It’s immediately apparent why Fiona signed up to trialling Number Builders. The programme’s child-centred approach is closely aligned with the values and principles of learning at the school. The children in Fiona’s maths class were not yet secure with number concepts, making the tactile n-bars around which Number Builders is based the ideal resource for developing fluency, and building confidence through a play-based approach to learning. The group had started as a ‘nurture intervention’, and it was important that both the planning and resources matched the children’s ‘learning readiness’. “These children need tangible resources for maths; some aren’t yet recognising numbers, so this gave a good structure to follow. It also meant we could focus on a smaller group, and the needs of the group,” Fiona explained.
Using the resources in a mixed intervention group
Because the children in the intervention group weren’t ready to access the Key Stage 1 curriculum, the classroom was set up with ‘free flow’ provision to encourage independent learning.
Each child was given their own tray set out with the n-bars representing numbers 1–10, and before the maths lesson started, they were allowed to spend a few minutes building and playing with the manipulatives.
“Sometimes they just wanted to join them together to make stairs, sometimes they’d work with a friend. They liked matching them so what they were building was the same as the friend next to them.”
Having allowed the children to play for a few minutes, the planned lesson would then start.
Fiona chose to follow the Reception planning, which was aligned with the level at which the children were working.
“I liked the Reception planning: the layout was easy to follow. I found it easy to incorporate other resources. You can adapt it as you would with any scheme: we don’t use worksheets at our school, and that wasn’t an issue. The PowerPoints were a useful resource: we used those in the lessons.”
Number Builders is designed to allow teachers to use their professional judgement over which resources are most appropriate for their children. For this group, the n-bars were ‘perfect’, with the number lines, especially the ‘shorter’ n-bar lines, a useful supplementary learning aid.
What worked well about Number Builders?
Using the n-bars provided a concrete representation of number concepts.
The manipulatives are designed to allow children to play, explore and build. The n-bars can be stacked on top of each other, and children can draw through the holes. Children’s understanding of ‘number’ is still emerging: these provide a physical representation which makes sense to them.
“A lot are kinaesthetic learners and learn by being able to do things. They can make links between other tangible resources and the n-bars.”
The school uses White Rose Maths as part of their core curriculum offering, and Number Builders closely supports the Concrete Pictorial Abstract (CPA) approach on which the White Rose Maths programme is based.
The approach is also aligned with Fiona’s own approach to teaching maths: “My background was early years, and I have that approach that learning needs to be hands on, regardless of the age, and make the link between concrete and abstract. You can do that, and I really like that. It gives children a solid base to learn on.”
The Numberinis characters are child-friendly and engaging.
The child-facing resources are brought to life with the ‘Numberinis’, a cast of seven characters which ‘personify’ number concepts or common mistakes.
To help introduce the characters, Fiona put laminated cutouts of the characters which the children had coloured in on sticks, and these were kept in the ‘talking box’ to scaffold maths talk and play.
“They were little hooks which they could relate to. There were three in particular: Mop, because he went upside down and also made mistakes. They liked that. And then they liked Spotty because he was spotty. They liked the dog, Digit, especially when he was stealing footballs. It’s about making it fun.”
Of the available resources, it’s the n-bars and characters that stand out: “(The n-bars) are a real strength: they’re robust, and the children can build with them. They’re fun to use, and the characters are great. They supported children’s learning.”
Final thoughts
At St Frideswide CofE Primary School, Number Builders has helped to nurture and develop the attitudes towards maths which underpin the schoolwide ethos: curiosity, collaboration and a love of maths.
Although the intervention has ended, the n-bars have retained their place in the classroom. Children continue to include the manipulatives in their play, and use them for counting.
“These children can struggle to apply what they’ve learned, so the fact they’re going back to them shows they work.
If children are learning and don’t realise, you’re doing the right thing, and it’s more likely to stick if you’re drip feeding it into their long-term memory. It’s how we learn, which is through having a go.
I’d say ‘try it’ to any school considering buying Number Builders. Let the children play, and explore, and have an open mind. There’s more to them than you think.”
