Future Creative

Which creative approach can we use to build the confidence and independence of our lower achieving pupils in order to improve their standards in maths?

The school’s aim is to be more flexible, to focus on children’s needs, not the curriculum; they can see ‘gaps’ and want to act on them, go back to ‘scratch’, and teach according to ability. Their enquiry has become more about this focus than actual attainment in maths, although that is still a key concern. Maths has been identified as an area for development by St Josephs. For the last two years Maths results have been on a downward trend. As a result of evaluation the school have introduced setting for pupils in KS2. They have also allocated support for more able children and wish to use this project to focus on lower achieving pupils.

The project will use interdisciplinary, multi-media art forms, and its varied activities will be underpinned by a focus on Maths. It will run from January to June 2009. St Joseph’s has a strong interest in singing, which the children enjoy, the school would like to utilise music in the project. The head teacher and lead teacher are also interested in filmmaking and sound recording, and would like staff and children to explore audio/visual media resources as a means to developing skills. Peter Cook was selected as lead practitioner because of his musical background and interest in multi-media activities. Emily Hill is the Creative Agent, or ‘critical friend’ who helped the school identify the most appropriate practitioner for their individual line of enquiry. Beverley Simpson is a Learning Support Assistant and is working alongside Bridie Fogarty, the head teacher, to design and plan the project with Peter. Peter’s wealth of experience balances Beverley’s enthusiasm for developing her teaching skills and together they have come up with a basic project plan which the pupils will add to once the sessions begin. Pupils will be encouraged to take ownership of their learning, ‘pick up’ their subject/instruments, make points/noises, use feedback, engage in conversation, and share their experiences with other pupils. Leading staff will be encouraged to share ideas with other staff members and ensure sustainability by working with other groups. CPD activities are also integral to the project’s success. On-going evaluation will take place during the project involving the pupils to ensure that they are enjoying the activities, are becoming more independent, and making progress. Planning and funding for materials and resources will be flexible; part of the budget will go toward organising a school outing based around maths. A range of activities will be planned with the children’s input. The school will be meeting its maths target, which is “To use and apply informal and formal methods of multiplication and division “. This is until the end of term 4 (Easter). Then the group will have the next target for terms 5 and 6 and can plan accordingly. Topics included in term 4 will consist of: • Film making of our body parts connected with 2, 5 and 10 times tables. • Songs written by the children on multiplication and division. • Use of the flip camera to record and share thoughts ideas and as an assessment tool. • Number audits around school. • Creation of a times table and division rap with the beat box and devise number games to be shared with the class and younger pupils.

Our focus is on well-being, enjoyment and fun, raising the profile of Maths with a “can do“ approach, and improving economic well being. Cross-curricular links with music, which is strength of the strong, will be developed in a new direction and further enhanced.