Conference Workshops
The workshops have been organised into strands, all of which focus on ‘working together’.
Working together 1: Innovating and sharing effective practice
Workshops that fall under this strand are delivered by practitioners who have taken an element of
Mathematics Mastery and/or great teaching and developed it beyond what Mathematics Mastery provides as a standard resource. Workshops will provide participants with new knowledge and ideas on how to implement further good practice in their own settings.
Effective leadership of Mathematics Mastery
Led by Jo Reed, MMSL at Perivale Primary School and Francis O’Kane, MMSL at St Joseph’s RC Primary School, both 2014 cohort schools.
What makes leading Mathematics Mastery successful? Jo and Francis are two MMSLs from different schools who have taken different approaches to leading Mathematics Mastery. Francis, a Year 5 teacher, has focused his support with the planning and teaching of Mathematics Mastery in Year 1 and he will outline the impact that this has had so far on staff confidence and pupil attainment. Jo, a Year 2 teacher, has taken the
Mathematics Mastery principles and adopted a whole school approach to the teaching of Maths in her school.
She will share how she has delivered this to staff and the impact it has had.
Demonstrating pupil progress – book scrutiny and marking that’s Ofsted friendly!
Led by Kaaj Barringer is MMSL and Caroline Farrant is a Year 2 teacher at Sir Thomas Abney, a 2013 cohort school.
How can we ensure pupil books demonstrate the progress they are making in maths? Caroline will share tried and tested techniques including regular use of ‘AfL’ questions; inclusion of photos of pupils’ work using concrete manipulatives and much more.
Innovation and creativity within the mastery framework
Led by Anna Ablethorpe, MMSL at Darlinghurst Primary School, a 2013 cohort school. She will be presenting with Sophie Lynch, a Year 1 teacher.
Do you feel the lesson guidelines are cramping your style? Be inspired by the creativity of the teachers at
Darlinghurst who are using the framework of the mastery lesson guidance as a structure around which to plan innovative and exciting maths lessons. Consider how you might use story-telling, puppets and other creative ideas to bring your maths lessons to life.
Attitude change in all stakeholders: working with parents, pupils and staff in the primary setting
Led by Arabelle Oxley, MaST, MMSL at Boxford Primary School, Suffolk.
How can we change attitudes to maths? So often we hear 'I am not good at maths!' from pupils, parents and even teachers. This workshop will give some practical suggestions on how to change stakeholders' mindset in maths. Exploring Dweck's theories on mindset and current pedagogy, Arabelle will share practical ideas to improve parental and pupil engagement in maths.
Effective interventions that close the attainment gap
Led by Rebecca Carver, MMSL, and Justine Oldham, Head of School, at ARK Conway Primary Academy, a 2012 pioneer school.
Is getting 100% of pupils to Level 3 in maths at Year 2 possible? In 2014, ARK Conway’s first cohort of pupils achieved just this. Along with dedicated teaching and a commitment to the Mathematics Mastery programme, this success is also attributed to a rigorous daily intervention programme, led by teachers, which uses clear
Assessment for Learning strategies to ensure that no child is left behind. Join Rebecca and Justine to hear about how this is scheduled and implemented in the busy school day to ensure success for all.

Working together 2: Collaborating beyond the partnership
We continually learn from organisations and partners outside of the Mathematics Mastery immediate community and many external ideas influence the development of our programme. Workshops that fall within this strand will inform participants on what else is going on in the wider world of mathematics education and how partner schools currently work with them to develop their own practice.
Lesson Study: Learning about learning
Led by Andy Smith, MMSL, and Kaye Williamson, Year 2 teacher, from New Kings Primary School, a 2012 pioneer school.
Andy will lead a one hour workshop in which he will discuss his experience of Lesson study in both Shanghai and London. His colleague Kaye will provide a teachers’ perspective on Lesson Study and the implications for practice, drawing on the experiences at New Kings Primary School.
Lessons from Shanghai; the teacher exchange programme
Led by Aziza Cranmer, MMSL at Great Yarmouth Primary Academy, a 2013 Pioneer School.
In September 2014, 71 teachers from English Schools arrived in Shanghai for a two-week research trip to see how maths is taught in Chinese schools. Subsequently, teachers from Shanghai came over to the UK to teach, plan and mentor their British colleagues in their own settings, bringing with them many of their techniques, such as ‘Variation theory’. Aziza took part in this teacher exchange and will share her learning and how it has impacted on both the teaching and learning across the federation of schools she works with.
Jane Jones Ofsted
Led by Jane Jones, Ofsted’s National Lead for Mathematics. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Working together 3: Learning together in School
The focus of these workshops is to ‘train’ participants to use and deliver INSET within their own settings. These workshops will guide participants through tried and tested workshops already delivered in practitioner schools.
Bar modelling: visually unlocking problems
Led by Alexi Makris, School Development Lead for the Mathematics Mastery Secondary programme.
What can a bar do that a numeral can’t? One of the key pictorial representations in Mathematics Mastery is
bar modelling, but why is it so important? In this workshop, a number of problem solving techniques will be explored. This will help reveal the flexibility that the bar modelling approach can bring to representing abstract information in more helpful ways. We will also look at how the foundation provided in Years 1 to 6 can have an ongoing impact on learning.
Working with Big Ideas
Led by Mike Askew
In this workshop participants will examine the nature of Big Ideas and how this relate to the aims of the mathematics curriculum and in particular the importance of reasoning. We will focus on the Big Ideas of
Equivalence and explore the potential of ‘reasoning mini-lessons’ to support pupils’ problem solving and reasoning. We will consider how working with Big Ideas involves building on what pupils already know and understand and so requires a balance of structure and freedom in thinking about and planning for lessons with
Big Ideas at their heart.

Problem solving for all – the art of games to promote mathematical thinking
Led by Kate Frood, headteacher of Eleanor Palmer Primary School, a 2013 cohort school.
Kate will focus on a simple repertoire of core KS1 games that promote talk, reasoning and problem solving approaches.
Implementing the Mathematics Mastery principles across the whole school
Led by Nirva Bohdjalian and Liane Tylee; School development Leads for the Mathematics Mastery Primary programme.
As part of our professional development provision, Mathematics Mastery provides INSET training materials that leaders in our partner schools can deliver to the whole school to inform all about the principles and components of the programme, even if specific lesson resources are not yet rolled out in every year group.
Examples of these workshops include ‘Lesson Structure’, ‘Maths Meetings’ and ‘Differentiation’. In this practical workshop, participants will have an opportunity to work in small groups to explore the content of these workshops whilst at the same time develop skills in presenting and delivering this training effectively.
Embedding Problem Solving in Key Stage 1
Led by Mary Williams and Claire Flynn; Curriculum Development Leads for the Mathematics Mastery Primary programme.
Are you looking for ways of embedding problem solving into your daily maths lesson? This workshop explores a variety of problem solving strategies which can be used to support your school with embedding problem solving in Year one through to Year 3. These strategies can be incorporated into maths lessons for all year groups supporting you to develop a whole school approach to problem solving.