Maths Workshop with Andrew Jeffery

Organised by The Society of Heads in association with Oxford University Press. The Maths Workshop is part of the Oxford Expert Speaker Programme. The programme brings the best known experts in education to events across the UK to share new ways of thinking about teaching and learning.

The Maths session run by Andrew was for Secondary Maths Teachers and Heads of Department for Maths.

The workshop took place in the Music Recital Hall where Andrew discussed how the role of reasoning is more vital than ever to pupils' success under the new GCSE arrangements, yet it is notoriously hard to instil this explicitly into many of our students. During the day, attendees were introduced to a whole range of resources and techniques designed to:

• Build pupils' resilience when they are 'stuck',
• Make working out tricky problems enjoyable,
• Allow students to access their own mental toolkit of techniques,
• Raise attainment and confidence in 'non-obvious' questions.

The afternoon plan was based around further discussion, knowledge sharing and networking to conclude the day. Teachers will leave the course with a bank of ideas to try and to share with colleagues and try out the various resources in the classroom. There will also be a recommended reading list based on Andrew's extensive knowledge of the mathematics education landscape, and details of where to find some of the best possible available resources.

During a 30 year career Andrew has been a teacher, school leader, inspector, author and consultant. His passion is studying why some children find mathematics so hard to grasp. Andrew has worked with schools and speaks at conferences both nationally and internationally about helping children understand and enjoy mathematics. He is also a magician and loves using magic tricks with mathematical secrets to inspire children and teachers!

Along with staff from Freemen’s, teachers from the following Schools joined the session including a teacher who travelled from Luxembourg and chose Andrew's session as her training preference for the year due to his reputation.

Schools included Chesham Preparatory School, Langley Grammar School, Kingswood House School, Surbiton High School, Abbey Gate College, The Marist School, St. George's International School Luxembourg, Emanuel School, Elthorne Park High School, Coloma Convent Girls School, Reading Blue Coat School, Villiers High School, The Quest Academy, St Christopher School, Claremont Fan Court School, Bethany School, Box Hill School, Luckley House School, Chilworth House Upper School and Virgo Fidelis Convent Senior School.