Research Project

Our school is called Elworth Hall Primary school. We are located in Elworth, a small area within Sandbach. There are approximately 173 pupils on roll, taught across 7 classes- Foundation Class to Year 6. There are 10 teachers and 15 other adults who do a variety of jobs across the school including, teaching assistants, admin staff and chefs.

We are 6 members of Year 5: Billie Hossent and Yasmine Tang researching in Y6 Harry Walsh and Edward Mulroy researching in Y4 Nancy Green and Charlotte Roberts researching in Y2

We have been researching ‘Girls in Mathematics’ this year. Elworth Hall has recognised that boys are out performing girls in Mathematics. It is very important to Elworth Hall, that we find out why girls are struggling in maths so we can help them to achieve in line with boys. However, we felt that our research should focus on ‘How all children could be better at Maths?’ and then use this data to draw conclusions about how to help the girls

These are the things we decided to focus our research: The children understand how to do the maths and the steps they need to take to get the answer. Teacher’s explain clearly how to do the maths and helps the children to find the best way. The children have time to talk about doing their maths. Teachers and friends encourage them and praise their success. The children have helpful resources and know how to use them. Homework enables the children to practise during the weekend. Their parents fully understand how to help them in maths.

We used a combination of observations and interviews to collect our research. Each pair observed two lessons for their focus Year Group. Next each pair interviewed the teacher and other adults working in each focus Year Group. Finally, we interviewed 5 girls and 5 boys separately.

We analysed data from each year group and identified the following strengths and developments for each year group: Y2 Things which are good: The children understand the teacher explanations We observed that the teacher explains the maths clearly and if the children don’t understand she will explain again. They have useful resources to support them We observed that the teacher shows the children how to use the resources and the children enjoy using the resources. Y2 Things to work on more: Their peers encouraging each other during lessons We observed that the teacher offers lots of praise and encouragement, but the children in particular the girls did not talk to each other or offer support.

Y4 Things which are good: The teacher explains the maths clearly We observed that the children in year 4 did not need to ask for further explanations as the teacher explained the maths clearly the first time and all children were able to complete the work. They have helpful resources to use We observed the children in Year 4 using the resources confidently and appropriately. Y4 Things to work on more: Homework is set Monday-Friday therefore they don’t have the opportunity to practise at the weekend Both the teacher and the children reported that homework was set Monday to Friday and the children were happy with this arrangement.

Y6 Things which are good: The teacher explains clearly the maths and helps the children to find the best way We observed that the teachers explains each step of the lesson clearly. The teacher also reported that the children are given a choice of how to calculate their answers. Y6 Things to work on more: Their parents don’t have the knowledge and understanding to help them outside of school Teachers reported that maths hasn’t changed that much since the parents were taught, it depends on the parents personal views of maths as to whether they can help their child.

What is good in Maths learning? The children are good at understanding how to do the maths they need to do In Y6, the boys and girls had different views about how to solve the questions but the all understood. We observed in Y4 that the children were able to clearly explain the process they went through to achieve their answers. The teachers explain clearly how to do the maths and help the children to find the best way We observed in Y6, the teacher explaining the maths process twice slowly and sometimes together as a class. In Y2, the maths is explained as a whole class then the children can ask to have the process explained a second time before going to do their work.

What is good in Maths Learning? The teachers encourage the children and praise them often The children reported that the teacher encourages them when they got an answer correct or were close. We observed teachers saying ‘wow’ and ‘well done’ throughout the lesson. The children have helpful resources and always know how to use them. In Y2 we observed the children confidently using the resources. The children have a collections of resources on their tables. The children in Y4 and Y6 know how to use the resources but often choose not to use resources to help them.

What could be better? The children don’t have enough time to talk about their maths We observed across all year groups that the teachers gave the children time to think but time to talk was limited. This means the children don’t have enough time to process their thinking. Their friends/ peers don’t offer praise during lessons The Y4 boys said that the other boys encourage them but the girls don’t encourage each other or the boys. Observations confirmed that the girls did not encourage their peers across all year groups.

What could be better? Homework is usually provided but not always over the weekend Y6 reported they had ‘MyMaths’ to access over the weekends but otherwise they were told to complete their homework on the day it was set. Y4 reported that homework was always set Monday-Friday. Their parents fully understand how to help them in maths Y4 reported that their parents had knowledge from when they were at school but they felt their parents weren’t as good as school because they were taught differently.

What is good: Girls reported that they understand the maths Y4 girls did admit they struggled a little bit even though they usually understood. Y2 girls said they always understood their maths. The girls reported that their teacher explains the maths clearly which helps them to understand All the girls across all three year groups said the teachers speak clearly and explain well. The girls feel they have helpful resources in class which support them during lessons All girls reported that they had plentiful resources to use during lessons

What we need to improve to help girls learn better in Maths: The girls reported that they don’t feel their peers/ friends offer encouragement and praise The girls across school reported that they don’t give each other praise. They feel that more time to discuss their maths with their peers would help them to improve The girls in Y4 reported this was needed, however, Y2 and Y6 did feel this wasn’t needed.

Share our findings with our Governors, so they can understand how we can improve Maths in Elworth Hall, in particular the learning and achievement of girls Share this presentation with all teaching staff, including teaching assistants. This will enable them to reflect on how to change their practise, to ensure the things that we have identified that need to improve, can be driven forward with the support of all staff Share the presentation with children and investigate further the importance of talk within the classroom Share the presentation with parents and conduct further research into how we can help them to know how to support their child with Maths.

‘How to observe lessons to inform research’ ‘How to successfully interview people to find out how key information can help our school’ ‘More confident speaking in front on large groups and people I don’t know well’ ‘How to work as part of a research team’ ‘Better at understanding the people in my team’ ‘How to create a power point to present to an audience’

We would like to say thank you to all the staff and the children who took part in our research, a huge thank you to Mrs Martin for helping us to put together this presentation. Thank you to John Jones for teaching us the skills we needed to complete this research project successfully. Finally thank you to the audience for listening to our presentation. We would like to now give you the opportunity to ask any questions you may have about our research.