Establishing strong foundations at Key Stage 3

Securing Foundations at Year 7 and Developing Fluency with Multiplicative Reasoning at KS3 are both designed to support teachers of KS3 students, with the former aimed specifically at teachers of students who did not meet age-related expectations at KS2. At Campsmount Academy, a relatively small secondary school serving a rural community north of Doncaster, maths teacher Oliver Challen has taken part in both programmes to strengthen his teaching and that of his department.

What is the context of your KS3 students when it comes to their maths learning?

At the beginning of last year, we were setting our students based on prior attainment. We had two bands, A and B, and were placing students equally across both. At the start of this academic year, we moved away from that approach. Using students’ KS2 SATs scaled scores, we identified the 15 students with the lowest scores and placed them in a group together, called a nurture group, rather than spreading them across the two bands. We wanted to remove the barriers that some students started secondary school with, and create a maths curriculum designed to reduce the attainment gap.

How did you begin your engagement with South Yorkshire Maths Hub?

We knew we wanted to create a better experience for our KS3 students – one which promoted equity – so we wanted CPD that was focused on this. Some students were reaching the end of Year 9 and were not where we wanted them to be. In our local community, we often have students joining us who have missed substantial parts of primary school or have not achieved as well as they might have done. We wanted something different from what we had been doing, so that these students could perform as well as their peers. 

After learning what the Maths Hub offered, I took part in Securing Foundations at Year 7 last year, and Developing Fluency with Multiplicative Reasoning at KS3 this year. For Securing Foundations, I was joined by a member of the learning support team who worked specifically with the group of low prior attainers in maths, so we could both put our new knowledge and skills into practice for the students. The curriculum and resources explored in Securing Foundations seemed quite radical compared with our existing approach, but we were willing to try them.

After Securing Foundations, we were told about Multiplicative Reasoning, which seemed like a natural next step. Given the number of questions in GCSE Maths that involve multiplicative reasoning, we felt it would be useful. Each year, we receive question-level analysis showing how our students have performed at GCSE, and we noticed that some of the topics connected with multiplicative reasoning were not areas of strength. It seemed that a professional development opportunity which addressed this at KS3 would give our students the right foundation for their GCSE Maths.

What have you enjoyed about the professional development?

I’ve found the face-to-face sessions this year very useful. I always value the little nuggets you pick up from other people about what they have experienced in their own settings. Whenever you spend a day in a room with ten other maths teachers working in different settings, you’re always going to gain a great deal from it. The opportunity to talk to other teachers was what I valued most. I came back from every session feeling that my time had been well spent.

The programmes have also given us the chance to develop resources. When we took part in Securing Foundations, we created almost an entire curriculum. It was based heavily on the materials we looked at during the sessions, but we adapted them to meet the specific needs of our nurture group.

Developing Fluency with Multiplicative Reasoning at KS3 has been a little different, and I’ve mainly been trialling resources and strategies with my Year 7 class. We have one lesson each week which the students refer to as an ‘MR lesson’. During the year, we have trialled techniques including ratio tables and double number lines. Overall, it’s been really successful, and we are adapting our curriculum to include much more work with ratio tables. I’m currently planning an introductory unit that will introduce ratio tables before students meet them within particular topics, and everyone in the department will teach this unit.

The support from the Maths Hub has helped us embed what we have learned during the programmes. Vicci Marshall, the Secondary and Post-16 Assistant Maths Hub Lead, has been to Campsmount, and we have discussed bespoke implementation of the strategies explored during the sessions. This has been extremely important in enabling us to maximise the professional development

What would you say to a school considering either Securing Foundations at Year 7 or Developing Fluency with Multiplicative Reasoning at KS3?

I would absolutely recommend taking part. We have found Multiplicative Reasoning at KS3 really useful. The approaches and materials I have trialled this year will definitely start to see a significant impact next year and beyond. Securing Foundations has helped us develop a curriculum well-suited to our nurture group, and our next challenge is to give those students a smooth transition to Year 8 so they remain confident mathematicians.

'The work the teachers in our maths department have done with South Yorkshire Maths Hub has enabled them to develop a curriculum and resources tailored specifically to our students. Oliver and the team have worked tirelessly to ensure that our students from disadvantaged backgrounds and those who have lower attainment from primary school make the best possible start in Year 7. Vicci and the staff at the Maths Hub understand our inclusive school ethos and work alongside us to build on what’s already working at Campsmount so the improvements we make are bespoke and sustainable.'

Jordanna Proctor, headteacher, Campsmount Academy