Maths

Real-world maths using genuine contexts is important in helping children see the relevance of the subject in the world today.

Numbering off

Our maths has gone from strength to strength this year.

We continued with the Inspire Maths Framework from years 1 to 5 and are seeing the benefits of this scheme in the children who pass through into Years 6, 7 and 8. There is strong evidence of more consolidated mathematical learning through embedding concepts using the concrete, visual and abstract approaches.

A large number of year 7 and 8 pupils were entered into the UK Maths Challenge this year and were rewarded with high levels of success in the Junior category (years 7-8).

Scholars in year 8 this year have had outstanding levels of success in maths, and this is evidence of the very strong grounding that they have been given through their time at Sherborne Prep. Examiners frequently commented on their strong algebraic understanding which is the bedrock of so much of the maths they will do at their senior schools.

Higher up the school we have developed more investigative work and we are beginning to adapt our year 6-8 curriculum towards the upcoming PreSchool Baccalaureate (PSB) approach for September. With the Common Entrance exam being dropped next year, the PSB will undoubtedly give us more flexibility to broaden and deepen mathematical understanding through practical application and investigation.

A question I am asked a lot in maths by the older children is ‘Why do we need to know this?’ and I sense the PSB will give us a response to this perfectly reasonable but incisive argument. Real-world maths using genuine contexts is important in helping children see the relevance of the subject in the world today. With all of us nowadays needing a heightened ability to determine numerical fact from fiction, skills to discern patterns, trends and statistics will help the next generation stay self-informed, rather than relying on sourced data or analyses. Introducing PSB will be exciting in its potential to bring about a distinct shift in children’s abilities in data analysis, pattern awareness and statistical understanding - certainly these are some of the tools they are going to rely on in the future.