a centre for excellence in mathematics

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A Centre for Excellence in Mathematics Author(s): Delphine Nunn Source: Mathematics in School, Vol. 28, No. 3 (May, 1999), pp. 4-5 Published by: The Mathematical Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30211997 . Accessed: 06/04/2014 08:27 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . The Mathematical Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Mathematics in School. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 86.13.187.153 on Sun, 6 Apr 2014 08:27:33 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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Page 1: A Centre for Excellence in Mathematics

A Centre for Excellence in MathematicsAuthor(s): Delphine NunnSource: Mathematics in School, Vol. 28, No. 3 (May, 1999), pp. 4-5Published by: The Mathematical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30211997 .

Accessed: 06/04/2014 08:27

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

The Mathematical Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access toMathematics in School.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 86.13.187.153 on Sun, 6 Apr 2014 08:27:33 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 2: A Centre for Excellence in Mathematics

'Gifted and talented chiben have particular needs which must be met if their potential is to be realized' (Schools Minister, Estelle Morris, April 1998)

'Very able pupils in maintained primary and secondary schools are often insufficiently challenged by the work they are set' (HMI 1992, page vii)

A Centre for Excellence

in Mathematics

by Delphine Nunn

This article describes a project set up in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to develop a Centre for Excellence in Mathematics located in one of its primary schools. The aim of the project, which started in 1997, is to develop and disseminate effective teaching strategies that allow the most able pupils to achieve their maximum potential. The project is based on a partnership between the LEA, the school and the Brunel Able Children's Education (BACE) centre at Brunel University.

Background The Royal Borough has always regarded provision for pupils' individual special needs as fundamental to its role as an LEA. This includes very able pupils as well as those experiencing difficulties. With this philosophy in mind, the LEA initiated a small-scale project in 1994 in order to provide specialist teaching for pupils nominated by schools as being particu- larly able. This project resulted in recommendations to schools about methods for identifying able pupils and appro- priate curriculum resources. One of the most important aspects highlighted by this project was the need for classroom teachers to acquire skills in challenging able pupils within the classroom setting.

A second phase of the project grew out of the findings of the first phase and focused on developing expertise in teach- ers in planning and teaching a curriculum suitable for able pupils. This particular need was addressed through a programme offered by the BACE centre, which had secured

DfEE support funding for that very purpose. Teachers from a

number of primary schools took part in this training programme. The commitment and enthusiasm of the partici- pating teachers was so impressive that the LEA decided to fund an initiative in order to develop expertise in providing subject-specific support for able pupils. The idea for a Centre for Excellence was born.

Setting up the Project At around the time when the LEA felt the need for such a pro- ject, the BACE centre team had been visiting centres which provided subject-specific support for able pupils. The mem- bers of the team were particularly impressed by the expertise displayed by teachers in these centres with their questioning and planning. With the borough's commitment to the educa- tion of higher ability pupils and the university team's desire to find well-researched solutions to challenges in education a partnership seemed natural; so an action plan was designed to set up a Centre for Excellence in a primary school. Clear aims and success criteria were drawn up. For pupils, the aim is to raise their achievement. A mathematics curriculum which encourages curiosity and creativity should be on offer to them. The theoretical model on which the curriculum is based is also provided in this section.

For teachers, the Centre would provide a place where they can observe mathematics teaching designed to raise achieve- ment and provide quality of thinking. They can see displays of children's exceptional work and can receive advice on cur- riculum materials and resources. The Centre for Excellence is a developing model which continually strives to raise the quality of teaching, teacher expectations and achievement.

How the School was Selected All schools in the LEA were approached with the invitation to host the Centre. The selection criteria were jointly formu- lated by the LEA and the University team. The selected school would have a coordinator who would be willing to develop his or her own expertise in effective teaching, targeted at able pupils, and be willing to give demonstration lessons. The school would assign an area to set up a perma- nent exhibition of children's work, produce sample resources for dissemination and host visitors from other institutions.

The Programme The development of the Centre is planned to happen over three years, in four stages:

4 Mathematics in School, May 1999

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Page 3: A Centre for Excellence in Mathematics

1. Training for the mathematics coordinator. The headteacher also attends the sessions.

2. Dissemination of methodology to all the staff of the host school.

3. Setting up an exhibition of good quality work and design- ing teaching resources.

4. Opening the centre for visitors from other institutions.

The in-service support for the coordinator is being provided by the LEA's Professional Centre and Brunel University based on a theoretical framework developed by the Univer- sity's able children's education unit. A clear philosophy that is emerging from the initiative is that improvements in teach- ing able pupils should also benefit all pupils. The school de- cided to set pupils, one across classes and the other within the class, so that higher ability pupils could spend time working together on suitably challenging topics.

The project has been going on for eighteen months and al- ready there are very promising signs of real progress. Pupils are showing an increasing range of strategies which clearly demonstrate extended mathematical thinking. The school where the Centre for Excellence is located has 42% of its pupils with English as an additional language; it also has 53% of its children being entitled to free school meals. Within that

context the school feels proud to have one of its pupils gaining Level 6 in the 1998 statutory test which demands exceptional performance. Three pupils are expected to achieve Level 6 in the 1999 tests.

It is too soon to assess the outcomes of the project in terms of improvement in general SATs scores for all pupils. What is emerging strongly is the improvement in the quality of children's responses, their enjoyment and attitudes. An observer can quite often see pupils being absorbed in solving the challenges set for them. They keep notes on their mathe- matical thinking and ask for work to be taken home. We also feel that by awakening teachers' awareness to the needs of the most able pupils, a school can not only provide more effectively for those children, but also for all their pupils. F*

Reference HMI 1992 The Education of Very Able Children in Maintained Schools,

HMSO, London.

Author Delphine Nunn, District Inspector, Isaac Newton Professional Centre, Lancaster Road, London W11 1QS.

t's worse inverse!. inverse!. Part II

by John Hersee

Here are the next three problems set in verse from the 18th and 19th Centuries. The answers are given and discussed on page 23.

3. In the year I wrote this, if to my age you add 1/2, 1/3, 1/5 (thereof), with 4/5 more,

The number 74 will then be had Ingenious youths, my age explore.

4. Old John, who had in credit liv'd, Though now reduc'd, a sum receiv'd. This lucky hit's no sooner found, Than clam'rous duns came swarming round. To th' landlord - baker - many more, John paid, in all, pounds ninety-four. Half what remain'd a friend he lent;- On Joan and self one-fifth he spent; And when of all these sums bereft, One tenth o' th' sum receiv'd had left. Now show your skill, ye learned youths, And by your work the sum produce.

The next one may illustrate one of the problems created by insisting on setting in verse:

5. When first the marriage-knot was ty'd Betwixt my wife and me, My age did hers as far exceed As three times three does three; But when ten years, and half ten years, We man and wife had been, Her age came up as near to mine As eight is to sixteen.

Ladies, or gentlemen, now tell, I pray, What were our ages on the wedding-day?

Author John Hersee, 76 Pembroke Road, Bristol BS8 3EG.

Mathematics in School, May 1999 5

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