Our maths work

Our Numeracy Quest arm, which is two years old and provides professional development for teachers and teaching assistants, is continuing to grow at a rapid rate. Our work now extends beyond Oxfordshire into many other counties, including Northamptonshire, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Gloucestershire and Cambridgeshire.

We are also working on a project that will see us support children and their parents/carers, reaching some of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable families.

Our work with TAs:

Promoting Mathematical Learning for Teaching Assistants, the first course we launched, has trained more than 300 TAs with more than 3,000 pupils helped as a result in Oxfordshire alone.

A second course has been written concerning supporting TAs in teaching multiplication and division in more depth and is being trialled in 2013.

The initial course was written by Jane McNeill, who has worked extensively as a mathematics consultant for Oxfordshire LA, the National Strategies and the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics. She is at present a Senior Lecturer in Primary Education at Oxford Brookes.

Our trainer in Oxfordshire is experienced numeracy consultant Ann Parham. We also have partnerships with other maths consultants, who support our work. See our Numeracy Team list.

The initial course, which has 6 hours of training split over two sessions a month apart, covers:

• The role of the teaching Assistant – considering key features of effective support in mathematics.
• Promoting understanding of numbers and place values – using models and images to promote sound understanding of core number concepts.
• Developing effective questioning – developing the use of open questions to assess understanding and promote learning.
• Promoting understanding of addition/subtraction – developing understanding and confidence in mental calculation strategies and using jottings to support thinking.
• Promoting meaningful maths talk – enabling children to engage in purposeful maths talk to develop mathematical thinking and support high-quality assessment.
• Promoting understanding of multiplication/division – developing key models and images that promote understanding and underpin mental strategies.

Schools that are interested are encouraged to download the attached document and contact our offices directly on 01865 403208, or e-mail info@readingquest.org.uk.

Our work with teachers:

We also run seminars for teachers and maths specialists wanting continual professional development. These involve arranging guest speakers to talk and run workshops on a range of topics from dyscalculia to effective working with parents and carers.
For more information e-mail info@readingquest.org.uk.