COVID RECOVERY

The school year 2020/21 will be substantially affected by the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. The knock-on effects on school life and teachers’ working lives can’t be predicted with any certainty. So, all Maths Hubs work will be flexible and adapt to changing realities. There’s likely to be more live online collaboration, often including use of video, for example. In addition, Work Group content will be adjusted to address schools’ recovery from coronavirus-related disruption alongside work on the central maths subject matter of each project.

In 2020/21, Maths Hubs will be running primary mathematics Mastery Readiness Work Groups led by Mastery Readiness Leads. This programme is for schools who have a commitment to developing a teaching for mastery approach long term, but who currently need additional support for improving maths teaching, learning and leadership. Although the school’s participation involves two teachers attending events outside of the school, it is expected that these two teachers have the opportunity to lead development across the whole school. Maths Hubs are now seeking to recruit schools for Work Groups, each involving up to eight schools. This document gives information about the Work Groups and how schools can apply to be involved. Your local Maths Hub will be given this information to make decisions about availability and your school’s suitability for this programme and may be able to offer suitable alternatives, if necessary.

BACKGROUND

Since 2014, the NCETM and Maths Hubs have been working together to develop approaches to teaching for mastery within primary maths. This has been partly informed by the teaching of maths in high performing South East Asian jurisdictions. Beginning last year, the NCETM and Maths Hubs have recruited schools to participate in a Mastery Readiness Programme and these schools will continue to work in Teaching for Mastery Work Groups for two further years as they develop teaching for mastery in their schools.

THE MASTERY READINESS WORK GROUPS

Each Work Group will be led by one of the Maths Hub’s Mastery Readiness Leads and involve up to eight primary schools. During the year, they will work closely together to develop subject and pedagogical knowledge as well as supporting teaching, learning and leadership of maths across the school by looking at the Five Big Ideas of Mastery Readiness to lay the foundations to developing teaching for mastery in an effective and sustainable manner. The Work Group activity will include:
• Each school identifying two teachers to lead developments within their school, one of whom should be the maths lead
• The two teachers working together with the Mastery Readiness Lead and teachers from the other Work Group schools in regular workshops. It is vital that the headteacher attends at least the first workshop with their staff
• Each school receiving regular support visits from the Mastery Readiness Lead to support the participants and leaders to develop and work on an action plan for the school
• The headteacher working with the Mastery Readiness Lead and other members of the Maths Hub leadership to develop whole school policies and structures to support teaching for mastery
• The lead teachers, supported by the headteacher, working with colleagues to lay foundations for developing teaching for mastery approaches in the classroom, supported by collaborative professional development activity
• Following the first year, the schools are expected to then continue being part of the Teaching for Mastery Work Group led by a Mastery Specialist. Beyond that year, there will be opportunities to continue embedding and sustain a teaching for mastery approach with the support of a specialist and other schools.

BENEFITS FOR PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS

Participating in the Work Group will provide the following benefits to participant schools:
• High quality support for the school including teacher professional development for the lead teachers, facilitated by the Mastery Readiness Lead
• Support for the headteacher in addressing leadership issues related to improving the teaching learning and leadership of maths from the Mastery Readiness Lead and the Maths Hub’s leadership team
• Opportunity to work closely with other schools also at a Mastery Readiness stage
• No charge for schools – for the participation in workshops or for school improvement support or regular professional development. This would be a considerable cost to schools but has been completely subsidised. (A grant of £1000 is available to help towards teacher release time in the Teaching for Mastery Development Work Group in 2021/22)
• In the second year, financial help, should the school make the decision to purchase textbooks (subject to DfE confirmation).

WHO CAN APPLY?

Mastery Readiness is designed for schools who are not yet in a position to develop teaching for mastery but want to in the future. This needs to include at least one of the following:
• The school has been judged at RI or Inadequate for at least their most recent Ofsted inspection
• There is poor progress or attainment data for maths across the school
• It has been identified, by their Local Authority, as being suitable for the programme
• The school serves an area of low social mobility such as Opportunity Areas, Category 5/6 areas
• It has been identified that there is a need for additional support for leadership of maths
• There has been high turnover of staff, meaning that the implementation of sustained change has been difficult but there is now a more stable situation where progress can be made.

EXPECTATIONS OF PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS

Schools chosen to participate in the Work Group commit to the following expectations:
• The lead teachers will participate in regular workshops with the Mastery Readiness Lead and complete gap tasks
• The lead teachers will be released to work with Mastery Readiness Lead for half-day school visits regularly
• The headteacher will meet with the Mastery Readiness Lead regularly during the bespoke school visits
• The school will introduce a vision for implementing teaching for mastery approaches across the school and will actively work on an action plan in order for the school to be Mastery Ready by the end of 2020/21. This could include introducing or developing collaborative, in-school professional development models to support all teachers and teaching assistants
• The school will provide any reports required by the Maths Hub and participate in any evaluation processes required
• The school will continue to work with other schools in the Teaching for Mastery Work Groups for the years 2021/22 and beyond.

FUNDING

There is no charge to schools participating in the Mastery Readiness Work Group. There is no charge for the bespoke support of the Mastery Readiness Lead. Schools will be eligible for financial benefits in the following year.

HOW TO APPLY

Schools interested in applying to be part of a Work Group in 2020/21 should complete the application form below and submit to their Maths Hub. Early applications are encouraged.

There is the opportunity to engage in the programme with other schools that you already work with, for example as part of an Academy Trust or local cluster of schools. Each school must still make an individual application, but you can indicate on the application form the schools you would like to be placed with.

Once the school has applied, the Maths Hub will then make contact with you to explain next steps.