VIEW FROM THE CLASSROOM
Breaking down barriers for girls in maths Tell us about your school
Based in the London Borough of Epsom, Wallace Fields Junior School provides a rich and vibrant learning environment for around 300 primary- aged pupils, preparing them with the skills and attributes needed to thrive in secondary school and beyond. We encourage children to believe they can dream more, learn more, do more and become more: every child, no matter their gender, background or ability, is capable of brilliant things and reaching their full potential. Therefore, an integral part of our teaching and learning centres around equality and inclusivity. We celebrate inclusion and respect for one another and impress upon our pupils that they can achieve without limits; there is no boundary for their aspirations. This ethos runs through all aspects of our curriculum and wider school culture.
What does maths learning look like at Wallace Junior School?
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n our second View from the classroom feature this month, we’re delighted to speak to Katie Sarjeant, year 5 teacher and Maths lead at Wallace Fields Junior School in Epsom, who tells us why it was so important to get involved in this year’s World Maths Day.
We promote a sense of curiosity in our pupils and willingness to explore, investigate, question and learn – and this value is especially important in our maths lessons. As a maths lead, I know from experience how quickly children can develop a ‘love’ or ‘hate’ relationship with maths, based on misconceptions of the subject being more difficult than perhaps English or Geography. As a result, many children will cast themselves as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ at numbers before they’ve even tried,
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www.education-today.co.uk
leading to low self-esteem in the classroom. This is particularly true for female pupils, who despite being just as capable if not more than their male peers in maths, are still less likely to pursue science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects in school. Dangerous stereotypes of maths being too ‘hard’ for girls or a ‘boy’s subject’ threaten to maintain the lower levels of engagement girls have with the subject. With children as young as six years old also experiencing anxiety related to numbers, it was clear when developing our maths curriculum that we needed an approach that would build pupils’ confidence and self-ownership with their learning, to show that every child can be a maths child.
A core element of our maths approach is supporting each child to recognise and believe in their potential to do well in the subject, and dispelling the myth that only a certain type of learner can excel in maths. Underlying this is a commitment to making maths fun and sociable for children, to help them develop a positive relationship with this subject from an early age. Over the past year we’ve implemented several new initiatives to address this and build all our children’s confidence with numbers, particularly the female pupils.
What resources and initiatives do you use to break down barriers to engagement? A lack of confidence is arguably the biggest
May 2023
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