Gorsley Goffs Primary School
About the school
Gorsley Goffs Primary School near Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire has three classes of 25 pupils in the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, and 30 pupils in three mixed age Key Stage 2 classes. On intake, mathematical development is rated as 'average'. Richard Humphrey joined the school as Head Teacher two years ago. Just prior to his arrival, an Ofsted inspection highlighted elements of the curriculum for development which included numeracy.
Why choose Abacus Evolve?
Because of the Ofsted report and the level of maths ability, Richard made selecting a complete maths scheme a priority on arrival.
Richard's primary objective was to find a holistic scheme that would take the pupils through from reception to year six. He wanted a solution that would enable him to measure and monitor the school's performance and one which could pin point what affects the individual and collective progress of the children. To motivate the teaching staff, he also wanted something fresh and new on which his staff could base their numeracy teaching.
Experience in using Abacus
He researched the various options with his LEA numeracy team and resources library and discovered that Abacus Evolve was about to be launched. Having used its predecessor – Abacus - in his last job, he was confident in the programme and so he went along to a launch event in Oxford.
A leading maths teacher himself, Richard explains, "When teaching maths, what works for me is directed teaching, complemented by the children discussing, discovering, investigating, talking and problem solving for themselves. The launch made it clear that Abacus Evolve was created to give ample support to teachers to plan and deliver self-selected lessons, blending all these vital elements, so it was immediately appealing to me. Having had experience of Abacus before, I knew the framework would give less sure teachers the support they needed to teach maths with confidence and the more assured teachers the tools to be creative in their numeracy teaching."
Abacus Evolve - ideal for Interactive whiteboards
"Also, since we have interactive whiteboards in all classes, a dedicated ICT suite and a firm commitment to integrating IT throughout the curriculum to aid learning, Abacus Evolve was again an obvious choice. The many features of Abacus Evolve are designed for the modern classroom – there are interactive whiteboards activities, whole class tasks, group challenges and individual games to enable learning." he continues.
Expert authors
Gorsley Goffs chose Abacus Evolve because, among other things, it felt that authors Ruth Merttens and David Kirkby had taken the National Numeracy Strategy on board, that Ginn had built on the strengths of Abacus and together they had developed a programme that encouraged the children to talk maths.
Abacus Evolve's flexibility
Abacus Evolve is an all-encompassing maths programme. As Richard says, "It gives you everything you need, but whether you use it all or not is up to you." Gorsley Goffs' intention is to make use of all Abacus Evolve's features, although they are still in the early stages of its implementation.
The teachers at the school find Abacus Evolve works well because its flexibility accommodates all their objectives – especially those that need improving. Each teacher knows what needs to be taught from week to week and using Abacus Evolve, they move the objectives around and model each lesson to fit how the school wants them delivered. The objectives are in a constant state of flux though, as the rates of progression vary.
Caters for varying ability levels
The teachers at Gorsley Goffs have also been changing and adapting Abacus Evolve's activities to cater for the pupils' varying ability levels. Abacus Evolve rates the activities by the typical abilities of pupils in each year group. One teacher found an activity graded as 'average' for her year to be easy for her pupils and so she simply selected an alternative to develop the same maths skills at a harder level.
Engages pupils
From the children's point of view, Richard reports that they have really taken to the interactive teaching and that the ICT side of things has really got them engaged in the lessons. The workbooks are also going down well and the youngsters are enjoying the colourful and creative elements of Abacus Evolve, which feature Edward Lear's popular nonsense characters.
Support for Teaching Assistants
The school plans to take advantage of the support notes Abacus Evolve supplies for Teaching Assistants - a feature they were most enthusiastic about during the INSET briefing and one they intend to use soon.
Looking very positive
Richard concludes, "It is early days for us, but we invested in Abacus Evolve with long-term objectives in mind. Our initial experience has been really positive and I am sure the more elements of Abacus Evolve we employ, the more benefits we will all reap. I am looking forward to seeing the results at Gorsley Goffs."