Making mastery work in KS2 mixed-age classes

Applying a mastery approach in mixed-age classes can feel challenging, and may be new for some teachers, especially at Key Stage 2. But Emily Crankshaw – Year 5/6 teacher, assistant head and maths lead – has seen that it benefits both teachers and pupils and creates more time in the curriculum. We spoke to her about a new two-year rolling programme which ensures that all pupils have chance to learn maths deeply and confidently.

Emily Crankshaw teaches at St Peter’s CE Primary School in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. As well as having a role on the school’s leadership team, she is a class teacher for Year 5/6, and has been at the school for ten years. In this time, Emily has also been involved with her local Maths Hub, Yorkshire Ridings, and has become a Mastery Specialist and Professional Development Lead. She co-developed the new two-year rolling programme, which equips teachers of mixed-age classes with a comprehensive approach to coherent curriculum sequencing, whilst developing their own subject knowledge and pedagogy.

What’s the context of your school?

People might imagine Harrogate to be a ‘leafy lane’ setting, but our school is very mixed. We are located in the town centre and have a diverse pupil cohort, with 29 different languages spoken and high levels of pupil mobility. There are currently over 250 pupils on roll and nine classes in total: we have single age classes for EYFS, Year 1 and Year 2, and mixed-age classes for Year 1/2, Year 3/4 (two classes), Year 4/5, and Year 5/6 (two classes).

How did your mastery journey begin?

We started working with Yorkshire Ridings Maths Hub in 2016, and were part of one of the first Development Work Groups. I trained as a Primary Mastery Specialist and was lucky enough to be part of the England-China exchange. I then trained as a PD Lead, using what I learned to benefit my own school as well as those in local Work Groups.

St Peter’s is now in the Sustaining phase of teaching for mastery, and I lead the Sustaining Work Group that we are part of. As our mastery journey continued, we realised that we needed specific approaches to enable our mixed-age classes to thrive through mastery. I took part in a Mixed-age Research and Innovation Work Group (RIWG), which led to me developing the two-year rolling programme for mixed-age classes, along with Helen Jones (then Assistant Maths Hub Lead at the hub, and now an Assistant Director for Primary at the NCETM).

What were the challenges of developing mastery approaches in mixed-age classes?

Prior to using the new programme, we had noticed that children’s fluency in additive and multiplicative facts was underdeveloped, and this drove us to want to make a change. Initially, the challenge was in the design of the curriculum. The two-year rolling programme allowed teachers to change from splitting an input between two year groups and teaching them separately. This shift in approach necessitated support for staff while they adjusted.

We had to ensure that all teachers, particularly those new to the school, had a secure understanding of mastery pedagogy to underpin their delivery of the two-year rolling programme. Finding time for professional development was therefore a priority. Using the NCETM Curriculum Prioritisation two-year rolling programme materials was important as a vehicle for teachers to develop subject expertise. Teachers had to become confident in their subject and pedagogical knowledge and be familiar with adaptive teaching strategies so they could support all pupils in the mixed-age classes.

How did you overcome these challenges?

Getting teacher buy-in was fundamental to making the programme work. Teachers saw that the new approach reduced their workload – they were planning and resourcing one lesson instead of two – so this really helped them to get on board. They were also dedicating a whole hour to maths each day, so pupils were getting chance to really explore and understand the concepts being taught. Support staff were able to be deployed more effectively; teaching assistants were actively involved with the class, rather than just supervising the half of the group not being taught.

A clear, strategic approach to implementing mastery in mixed-age classes, driven by SLT support and prioritisation, meant that the programme didn’t get lost in amongst other things happening at school. We started with a trial year; this was important to let us see how it needed to be tweaked to work in our school. During the first year, teachers had regular opportunities to feed back and to review the sequencing of the curriculum. This early work helped shape the mixed-age curriculum sequence now available to other schools.

Professional development was given priority on the school development plan, and this meant time was specifically allocated for it, and that our MAT (Yorkshire Causeway Schools Trust) made sure that all teachers had training on adaptive teaching strategies.

What support has enabled you to implement mastery in mixed-age classes effectively?

The ongoing relationship with the Maths Hub has meant we have always had access to support and advice. Being part of the team that developed the mixed-age materials, I was able to test them out in my school and work with the Assistant Maths Hub Lead at the hub to iron out any issues as they arose.

We have also considered how pupils’ experience of maths with us is part of their overall learning journey. To build firm foundations and fluency with number, we have introduced the Mastering Number programmes at KS1 and at KS2. And to learn more about adaptive teaching strategies and pupils’ maths learning after KS2, we joined a Years 5-8 Continuity Work Group to work with a Secondary Mastery Specialist through the Maths Hub.

The EEF’s guidance report on implementation has also informed our approach. It has led us from the planning stage to being able to forensically review our impact, and then plan again for the future.

What impact have you seen so far?

Improved teacher subject knowledge has been fantastic to see. Knowing our teachers are enjoying teaching maths and doing it with confidence means the programme can really become embedded and benefit our mixed-age classes. Pedagogical knowledge has improved too. Teachers have a deep understanding of teaching for mastery, and know what it looks like in practice.

A consistency of approach is evident. We see it in everything from teachers’ planning and expectations to the use of vocabulary, representations and stem sentences. Every classroom demonstrates the same approach to teaching for mastery.

Because there is now more time planned into the maths curriculum, teachers can go deeper into each concept being taught without having to split inputs. This gives pupils more chance to discuss, reason and understand the maths they are learning.

However, the journey is never complete! Next, we want to develop procedural variation within our daily intelligent practice, and ensure all new teachers are trained and supported in this way of teaching.