Pupil Voice

We value the views of our pupils and hold informal chats with groups of pupils to hear what they think about each subject. 

Our Pupil Voice discussed the idea of 'Teaching for Mastery'. We explored what the term 'mastery' means and then looked at the five big ideas and asked the children to to give ideas of what each area might look like at our school. We also shared various questions.

What is mastery?

• 'Being a master of maths can mean that you are able to solve questions in a number of ways'.

• 'Mastery is when you have achieved something that you might have found hard earlier on'.

• 'Mastery is being an expert at maths'. 

We talked about the three ideas in maths - fluency, reasoning and problem solving.

What is fluency?

• 'It means you're smooth with calculations'. 

• 'Knowing number facts, times tables and number bonds'. 

What is reasoning?

• 'Reasoning is justifying your answer'. 

What is problem-solving?

• 'Problem-solving is when you can solve a problem. For example, I'm thinking of a number, when you half it, it is 3, when you double it, it is 12.What is my number?'

What do we do to help you learn more and remember more?

• We recap subjects that we might not feel as confident on. 

• Daily fluency.

• Teachers provide equipment if you need to use it.

• Quizzes. 

• They ask us questions. 

• Go over things that we have learnt before. 

• Diagrams.

Why do we learn maths in small, sequenced steps?

• So we don't make mistakes, we don't want to rush it, we remember it. 

• We know the things we need the most, we need to learn place value before we add. 

What does it mean to have a growth mindset?

• Changing your attitude, mindset and the way you're thinking. Thinking positive. For example, 'I can't do it!'. Change that to, 'I'm still learning, I'll keep trying, 'Or 'I  can't do it YET!'

• Looking to the bright side. 

• Never ever giving up no matter how hard something is. 

• Believing you can do something but just not yet. Being optimistic with your learning. 

• To have a growth mindset, you can change your attitude. Instead of saying, 'I give up!' you can say, 'I can try a different strategy.'

How do you feel when you are about to start maths?

• I feel excited when we do maths because it is very fun and I develop well. 

• I feel excited because I love to do maths. 

• Happy because I like it and it's very enjoyable for me. 

• I feel excited because at the end of the day I tell my parents what I've done and write it down on a piece of paper. 

• I have lightbulb moments then I understand and my confidence grows. 

• I enjoy working with Numicon, place value counters and base ten. It helps me to understand maths better.