1. Assertive Mentoring Maths

2.  To inform you of the new statutory requirements for assessment  To give you an overview of the Assertive Mentoring System we are following for Maths.  To provide you with information on how to support your child in their learning at home.

3.  The Government removed the former national curriculum assessment levels (3c, 3b, etc) because the new curriculum has much higher standards and expectations.  DfE: The curriculum must include an assessment system which enables schools to check what pupils have learnt and whether they are on track to meet expectations at the end of the key stage and report regularly to parents.  However no new levels for assessment have been introduced nationally.  We are therefore in a new era of ‘assessing without levels’. There is now no national requirement from the government in how schools should assess and record progress. It is therefore up to each school to develop its own system.

4.  The assertive mentoring system format allows the teachers to assess the pupils’ learning against a variety of progressive statements called steps.  For each year group there are four age-related steps and associated learning statements that the pupils are assessed against.  These will be recorded as emerging, developing, secure and mastering these steps will be recorded in the pupil’s files and discussed at parent consultations.  Under the new national curriculum, children must only work on the objectives for their year group and cannot be taught skills from a higher year group. For those pupils who have reached their end of year expectations, the teachers will provide a range of learning opportunities that offer a greater depth and breadth of understanding specific to their year group.  The new curriculum is 8 months harder at every point because primary standards have never been higher!  The curriculum is not about going higher it is about going deeper.

5. WHAT’S OUT?  INFORMAL WRITTEN METHODS OF CALCULATION  CALCULATORS  SEPARATE STRAND FOR USING AND APPLYING WHAT’S THERE LESS OF?  EMPHASIS ON ESTIMATION  LESS WORK ON PLACE VALUE  LESS WORK ON DATA HANDLING (STATISTICS) What’s there more of?  More challenging objectives, especially in number  Formal written methods introduced earlier  More work on fractions What’s in?  Roman numerals  Times tables up to 12 x 12  Equivalence between metric and imperial  Long division and algebra (Y6)  Building learning over time and going deeper – Geometry moved into year 4. Slower and Longer.

6.  Levels with Stages. Stage 1 is Y1; Stage 2 is Y2 etc….  Each Stage is broken down into sub stages  There are 4 Sub Stages per Stage:  Emerging  Developing;  Secure  Mastering or Next Stage Ready

7.  Use the Half Termly Tests  Each pupil completes the half termly test at the Stage they are currently operating within (exception of SENs pupils)  The teacher tracks which areas the children are not able to do and the teaching is adjusted accordingly.

9.  The children also complete a Weekly Basic Skills Check.  There are 15 of these at every Stage (S1-6).  Pupils take the Weekly Basic Skills Check in class during a normal numeracy lesson… at the Stage they are currently working at... once a week.  This regular practice supports mastery of the basic skills as the weekly repetition enables pupils to keep getting right those questions they’d previously got right so that basic skills are not forgotten over time  And the teacher addresses common group misconceptions

11.  We suggest that the teacher gives pupils Skills Check One in week one – at the Stage they are working at - as a practice exercise. Pupils are given help from the teacher & TA - they only take 20/30 minutes to do  Further help is given to pupils through use of Pupil Prompt Sheets. These are available for S0-S6  Pupils use the Prompt Sheets to work independently as they work their way through the Weekly Skills Check.  The Prompt Sheets are also great for homework  Parents love using them to help their children  Pupil Record Sheet. We advise that all 15 Skills Checks at each level are collated in booklet form with the record sheet on the front. Pupils record their own scores on the left hand column of the record sheet.  In the second week, give the pupils Skills Check One again, this time with NO HELP. They record their score in the right hand column of the Record Sheet.  Challenge them to achieve the same score in the without help column as in the with help column

12. All parents have been emailed a copy of the prompt sheet relevant the stage your child is working within.

13. Once a week, in a specially timetabled slot, pupils go Revise Wise Friday groups.  Here, teachers and TAs are each assigned a group of pupils who arrive with the Basic Skills Check that they completed earlier in the week in their own class  The teacher or TA leading the groups go through the weekly basic skills check question by question  They teach to the misconceptions that are identified through this process i.e those areas that a significant number of pupils got wrong  Next week, back in class, when the pupils take their next weekly basic skills check, they will have a much better chance of getting right the questions they’d previously got wrong

14.  Pupils are now expected to have learnt their tables - 1-12 – by the end of Y4. However Y5 is probably more realistic.  The system aims for children to be able to say their tables in order without hesitation (bronze level); in any order they are asked (silver level) and the associated divisional facts (gold level).  Times Tables Record Card. This is to motivate children and allow them to see their own progress. The front of the card has the tables up to 12 so they can learn them. On the back there are spaces for pupils to collect stickers once they have achieved the expectations.  For each table, there are three spaces on the reverse of the card. The first is to put a Bronze sticker once they can say their tables in order without hesitation; a space for a Silver sticker once they can say their tables out of order without hesitation and a space for a Gold sticker once they know the associated divisional facts.  There are class and homework practice sheets for every table. There is also a series of tests including a useful excel spread sheet for this purpose.

17.  Fluency in the fundamentals  Reason mathematically  Solve problems

18.  Know it  Use it  Explain it

19.  Look at these numbers. Circle the odd one out.  8, 16, 64, 32, 25  Sort these numbers into descending order  94cm, 3cm, 178cm, 4m, 202mm  Bruno the boxer dog love hot dogs. Hot dogs are sold in tins of 8. He eats 6 hot dogs every day. Work out how many tins we need to buy:-  A) for a week  B) to last 4 weeks