Guest Posted June 9, 2006 Share Posted June 9, 2006 I've just been asked today to take over co-ordinating Numeracy from September. I've never co-ordinated a core subject before and want to get it right! Numeracy isn't my strongest or most favourite subject! Does anyone have any suggestions on where to start? - things to look at, info I need to know about etc. I've looked at new framework and I think there is some training coming up soon about that, but I'd like to get a stronger understanding of all that is involved. It has been picked up as a weakness by the powers that be, so we will be getting some external help from an advisor etc. - I have to go with my head to a meeting about action plans and support in a few weeks and want to feel I know about what is going on! Any help, advice, ideas would be gratefully appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_79 Posted June 9, 2006 Share Posted June 9, 2006 I'd talk to the present coordinator. There should be some coordinator support courses that you can go on. Make sure you really know what is going on in your school and audit resources. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 9, 2006 Share Posted June 9, 2006 You should also familiarise yourself with the school's SATs and FSP results -how do they compare with other schools in your LEA / nationally? Is there a particular strand in which your school is weak? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 9, 2006 Share Posted June 9, 2006 The current/ previous maths coordinator should also have action plans that have been discussed with the SMT and agreed with the governing body. You should have access/ copies of these to at least know where where your starting point is. Have to say as a coordinator taking geography and history after a the previous coordinator had left I received some flak about the previous medium term plans- take these with a pinch of salt. Its easier sometimes to scapegoat. After a year working with the plans which were based on the QCA units I am now ready to add my own spin. You do need time and training to settle into a role. If the previous maths coordinator is still available it would be useful to talk to that person but keep an open mind. Beinhg a coordinator after a year as an NQT i needed to be aware (something to do with being in the special environment of early years within my school did not prepare me for the KS2 onslaught!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Make sure that you keep abreast of current devolpments (gov documents, reading around the subject, associations to join, training- its hard sometimes to suggest ideas to the team if they have been teaching for a while and give you the "i've seen it all before." Have to say i have only seen that on the specialist courses!!!!!!!!! Not yet had any resistance just non complioance!!! Good luk and enjoy- you know that in early years maths is/ can be fun and children do learn concepts- there is no reason why that should not happen as children grow older. Lisa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 10, 2006 Share Posted June 10, 2006 Another good idea is to get the maths advisor from your local authority to come and work with you. When I coordinated Art and Drama I got the advisor to come out, and we put school development plans and all sorts together. It was really useful. I got it all for free, but different authorities may vary. It's their job to support each school in the development of their specialist subject, and Numeracy is certainly high on their agenda at the moment. Good Luck. It takes time to see changes, but when they come, they are really rewarding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_73 Posted June 10, 2006 Share Posted June 10, 2006 Hi there Spam, I was maths coordinator in an another life and it isnt as scary as it sounds. You have had lots of good avice already. My predecessor had left the subject in a complete mess to the point that our SATS were in single figures!! My first job was to do an audit, using in my LEA the 'success for everyone' I can send a copy if you like, but your LEA may well have their own. I spent much of summer holdiay anaysing the SATS and QCA test data in quite some detail, before finding some quite astonishing weakensses in the school. I then used this to inform the action plan. I developed ways of tracking pupils through the school (these are more commn place now and are probabaly in place already in your schol but I had to design my own at the time). I had a lot of support from the advisor and told my Head exactly what we needed and I got it. I had to make some tough and unpopular decsisions, but between us we managed to quadruple the SATS in a year! You may well find that this is already in place, I had to work with pretty much nothing. If you already have a thorough take on where your weakeneses and already have a good action plan then you can buld on it. If you are in the position I wa sin and have nothing! then do get back to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 Thank you for all the support and advice! Mundia I'd love to see anything that you can offer - I haven't been given anything yet - don't officially take over until Sept. but I've not been able to pin down current co-ord either, and with this meeting in a couple of weeks I'd quite like to have firm understanding of where weaknesses and strengths are etc. Do you have any target system you follow? Our present one is one developed by another school but they don't seem to match Key Objectives for each year group. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_73 Posted June 15, 2006 Share Posted June 15, 2006 sorry spam just caught up with this. If you send me your email address I can send you the success for everyone although my copy is a bit old now. Im not sure what you mean in terms of targets, do you mean individual pupil targets based on KOs or end of year or key stage targets? Dont worry about the meeting, they will appreciate that you are new but ask your head for hand over time, h/she should be willing to give you that. the head should know the main weaknesses (althouhg in my case it was a shcok to all). If there is weakness that has been picked up then that must be documented somewhere so pester for a copy. Some well respected teachers in the school will also be able to tell you exactly what the weknesses are. let me know as soon as you have some more information Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 15, 2006 Share Posted June 15, 2006 Hi Mundia, thanks for your reply. In terms of the targets - we use levelled targets (e.g. 1a, 1b etc.) That our acting head introduced last September (new head started at Easter). To me, these targets do not match ko's and are not general enough - they were written to emphasise problem solving, so don't mention time, money, measures etc. which I personally think is a mistake. We use these targerts, expecting KS1 children to make 3/3 progress in a year and KS2 children at least 2/3 (I think!). However, to me, because the targets don't match ko's children are struggling to make the progress they are capable of. (Does that make sense????) I' love to see any examples of targets etc (pref levelled as this is what the head is looking for - I think on the whole as a staff we have decided the targets are inappropriate). We then complete a form at the end of terms 2, 4 and 6 to show progress (or not) that the children have made and use them to predict Y2/Y6 SAT levels and all the years in between! The system does work - would just prefer more child friendly, appropriate targets to work to!!! I've just spent a small fortune on featherstones website - including the tracking Numeracy R-Y6 - have you used/seen this? They seem to do target sytems for Science and Lit, but couldn't find any reference for Numeracy. I'm going to try and pin down current Num co-ord and ask for a meeting ASAP so will try and gain some more info then. Thank you for the support!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_73 Posted June 16, 2006 Share Posted June 16, 2006 Ok think Ive got what may be useful in the darkest depths of a folder somewhere. Its a paper copy so I can try to scan in otherwise Ill have to send you one! It was done by our LA maths team and mathces all ther KO against levels (so in year 1 some KO are 1a, some 1b etc.). We then do a best fit assessment based on teh KO. Of course they are based on the current strategy Im not sure how much they will change? We have a spreadsheet which teachers can complete which gives an at a glance indication on which KOs children are achieving well or not...I like this as its completely visual. Its a good indicator fo where school strengths and weaknesses may lie. I started to add to this before I left that job so that it would level the chidlren for you after putting in the data but I never finsihed it. If you like to play around with excel you are welcome to finsih it if you think it wil be of any use. let me kniow if any of this would be helpful (or not) and Ill try and sort it over over the weekend for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 16, 2006 Share Posted June 16, 2006 Thanks Mundia. Your systems sound great. We had our SAT moderation today and they were happy with our TA judgements and very complimentary of assessments we do, but backed up that the target sheets are not appropriate as they don't match ko's - so yours sound ideal. I'm sure they will be very useful regardless of changes in strategy. I'd also quite like to see your work on excel, and if I can I'll try and complete - can then post on here if it is of use to people. Thanks for all the help and support! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_73 Posted June 17, 2006 Share Posted June 17, 2006 Im ferreting in my cupboards as we speak, can you pm me your emailaddress? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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