I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your support, patience and encouragement as you have embarked on the new career pathway of ‘teachers at home’.  We know this may have been challenging at times but we also know you are doing the absolute best for your children at home.  We are looking forward to seeing students return in small groups next week.

I would also like to thank our dedicated staff for all they have been doing to support the learning of students during this blended learning environment.  Many staff have had to think completely differently from going from teaching face to face to only on a screen as has been a huge learning curve for us all.

As we continue in this environment for a little bit longer I thought I would share a site I use with students at school which may assist at home as well.

• Encourage children to play Mathematics puzzles and games. Anything with a dice really, will help children enjoy maths, and develop number sense, which is critically important.
• Encourage number sense. What separates high and low achievers in Mathematics is number sense – having an idea of the size of numbers and being able to separate and combine numbers flexibly. For example, when working out 29 + 56, if you take one from the 56 and make it 30 + 55, it is much easier to work out. The flexibility to work with numbers is extremely important.
• Always be encouraging and never tell children they are wrong when they are working on maths problems. Instead, find the logic in their thinking – there is always some logic to what they say. For example, if your child multiplies 3 by 4 and gets 7, say – Oh I see what you are thinking, you are using what you know about addition to add 3 and 4, when we multiply we have 4 groups of 3…
• Never associate maths with speed. It is not important to work quickly, and we now know that forcing children to work quickly on maths is the best way to start maths anxiety for many of them.
• Perhaps most important of all – encourage a “growth mindset.” Let students know that they have unlimited maths potential and that being good at maths is all about working hard. When children have a growth mindset, they do well with challenges and do better in school overall. When children have a fixed mindset and they encounter difficult work, they often conclude that they are not “a maths person”.