Case study: Varndean School
M
ATHEMATICS TEACHER Zeb what APP is about and the APP materials. Th en four
Friedman sums up her opinion of members of the department who were taking it up
APP in one word – “phenomenal”. quite rapidly focused on working with three or four
“APP impacts on how you students within a class. We then very quickly went
think about your teaching, how your students are on to work with whole classes with APP. Th e pupils
learning, and the progress they are making,” said Ms responded very positively too. Th ey have become
Friedman, who is a part-time mathematics advanced much better at responding to smart questions,
skills teacher at Varndean School in Brighton and a problem-solving and thinking through.”
mathematics consultant for Brighton and Hove. “It
changes how you teach and engages teachers more in
pupil learning than ever before.
“I found my fi rst couple of dips into APP quite
scary because it uncovered misconceptions where I
had believed pupils understood what they were doing.
‘
APP automatically engages
with Assessment for Learning in a

way that I don’t think mathematics
Using APP you have to gather more information
teaching has done before
about what pupils do and don’t understand and
work out what strategies and techniques you can use Ms Friedman and her colleagues took car
to deal with misconceptions. In other words, APP
automatically engages with Assessment for Learning
(AfL) in a way that I don’t think mathematics
teaching has done before.”
Th e mathematics department at Varndean, a
1,300-pupil school with a reputation for innovation
and achievement, introduced APP in September
’
e not to
treat APP tasks as an “add-on” method of assessment
to be used every half-term or after every module.
Th e Varndean teachers agree that APP is very much
about using “blended aspects of a student’s work in
order to make a judgement on their progress”.
“Every teacher I have worked with has said APP has
shown them that they need to plan this diff erently or
2008. Th e approach is now being used across virtually teach that diff erently,” said Ms Friedman. “As a result,
all key stage 3 and half of key stage 4 classes. APP has done far more for what is going on at the
In her mathematics consultant role, Ms Friedman chalkface in maths than anything I have seen so far.
helped to run APP training sessions for all the Most teachers fi nd the A3 assessment grids incredibly
subject leaders within Brighton and Hove. Th e local helpful and are using the hard copy version rather
authority has also set up an APP network to share than the electronic version. Th ey like the fact that
best practice and support mathematics departments they get the whole picture with this recording sheet
in taking APP forward. and there is a huge sense of ownership.”
Meanwhile at Varndean, the seven-strong Th e grids have proved so helpful that the staff
mathematics department launched APP through are considering getting rid of their mark books
three training sessions during the course of the altogether: “An A3 grid tells me more about a pupil’s
2008/09 academic year. Ms Friedman said: “Th e progress than a mark book ever could,” said Ms
fi rst two sessions involved introducing teachers to Friedman. “Th ere’s simply no competition.”
SecEd 7
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