Casestudy
About the school
Ashmead Combined School, Aylesbury has recently been included on the most improved list, the index of schools that have raised standards year on year since 2000.
The school takes a topic-based approach to delivering the curriculum, and feels that pupils benefit from a very holistic method of teaching and learning.
Ashmead has been using Abacus across all years since the introduction of the NNS, and gets full marks from the staff, including a KS1 teacher who is a leading maths teacher.
Mr Sullivan, Maths Co-ordinator, tells us why he and his colleagues chose Abacus.
Clear differentiation at all levels
We wanted a programme that worked well throughout the school and that would suit all of our children. Abacus has really clear differentiation throughout all year levels. We also put a high priority on planning support. The planning support in Abacus is very easy to follow, and it does free up our time.
Putting maths into context
We were impressed by the way that the topics link into other topics, and are put into context. Abacus is also good at putting problem solving into context, and in giving opportunities to practice skills. A big factor in our choice was our local Ginn rep, Juliet, who was supportive and informative throughout our implementation of the programme.
Saving us time
We take a very-topic based approach to teaching the curriculum at Ashmead. It's a holistic way of teaching and places great emphasis on children working in groups. Using Abacus saves us time, and we find that it frees us up to work on topic-based maths, and to apply skills in a cross-curricular context. My colleagues also find that the support and extension in Abacus works really well.
Pupils enjoy maths
They love using the resources. Our children enjoy maths, and we feel that it's a largely a question of having the right programme in place throughout the school. In fact, a lot of children say that maths is their favourite subject.