Research School Network: Improving Mathematics in Key Stages 2 and 3

The Brakenhale School is an 11 – 18 mixed secondary school located in the town of Bracknell in Berkshire. Historically, we struggled in Mathematics with a number of our students performing below the expected standard. To address this critical issue, we took specific steps, informed by the EEF Guidance Report on Improving Mathematics in Key Stages Two and Three and as a result have seen significant improvements in our Mathematics results.

As a core subject, we recognised that our Key Stage Three performance was hugely impacted by the work of our feeder primary schools. This link is recognised in Recommendation 8 of the EEF Guidance which challenges schools to ​“support pupils to make a successful transition between primary and secondary school.” To this end, we approached our feeder schools and established a much closer working relationship with them. We shared resources, experiences and our respective expertise and thus gained a much deeper understanding of the mathematical abilities our students were arriving with when they joined Brakenhale. We were also able to positively impact on the pedagogical approaches being used at both Key Stage Two and Three and thus to optimise the quality of Mathematics teaching received by our future and current students.

Within this collaborative work, there were two key foci: Developing problem solving strategies and developing pupils’ independence and motivation. These are both strands within the Guidance, Recommendations 3&5 respectively. Initially we considered how modelling and making our thinking processes explicit could support student’s metacognition when they are faced with an unfamiliar problem. We paired problems, not on the basis of the mathematical content but on the basis of the strategy that should be used to resolve them. This made it easier for us to demonstrate the necessary thinking processes to our students. There were two steps to the demonstration process: First, we silently modelled the process; Second, we stepped through the calculation, line by line, questioning students about how and why we had taken each step. When students tackled the paired problems, most were able to replicate the strategy we used to achieve the correct result but even when they could not complete the calculation, they were able to at least start it and to get some way through the steps before getting ​‘stuck’. We further worked with students on reflecting, monitoring and communicating their problem-solving strategies and as a result we found that more students were starting more complex questions. The net result of our work was not just an improvement in students’ abilities problem but also a boost in their independence and motivation. Armed with their new skills, they now felt empowered to tackle challenges which previously would have seemed impossible to surmount.

By Tom Dean, Head of Mathematics

The Brackenhale School