maths@ibotwell.co.uk

WHITE ROSE MATHS HOME LEARNING

 

Dear Parent/Carer

 

Hope you are all well and keeping safe at home.  As you know, the children have been given their home learning packs to complete with activities included for core subjects. 
 

I am sending you a link for the Maths work that I am recommending the children complete from now on.  The White Rose activities follow the same principles of Maths Mastery that we follow here at Botwell House.  The images and representations used will be very familiar to your children.  White Rose are publishing five lessons per week for each year group, one week at a time.  There is an instructional video and a worksheet that can be printed.  The answers are also available so you can go through them with your child. 

 

If you do not have a printer at home, then the children can just complete the answers in their home learning exercise book while looking at the questions on screen. 

 

Your child just needs to complete one lesson per day and I strongly recommend that you watch the instructional video with them where you can - they will give you as a parent great insight into the way we teach Maths here at Botwell House.  The lessons must be done in sequence as each lesson will build on the last. 

 

The White Rose teaching sequence is a little different from the Maths No Problem one that we use in school - if you find that your child has already covered the topic then please still ask them to complete it as it is great revision.

 

The link you need is https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/  Then select your child's year group and then the next lesson you are due to complete.

 

There are more links on the website if you want to explore further activities.

 

I am happy to answer any questions that you may have about Maths work and I am keen to hear your feedback about how it is going.  Please email me at maths@ibotwell.co.uk and I will try and get back to you as quickly as I can.

 

Kind regards,

 

Mrs J Forde

Lead Maths Specialist Teacher

BOTWELL MATHS CHALLENGE VS ST BERNADETTE'S SCHOOL

 

Dear Parent/Carer

 

Botwell House School has been challenged by St Bernadette's School, Hillingdon in a Top of the Rocks competition on Times Table Rockstars! The competition begins today and runs until 9pm on Friday 1st May.  The winning school will be the one who have collected the most points by Friday evening.  Children will earn points for the school by simply answering as many questions correctly as they can in any game mode.

 

We are very excited about this competition and are sure the children will be too.  We will provide regular updates from the leaderboard about individual and class contributions and will be celebrating effort and success.

 

Please encourage your child to take part in the competition and help show that Botwell House really are Top of the Rocks!

 

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me at maths@ibotwell.co.uk

 

Stay Safe and well!

 

Mrs J Forde

Lead Maths Specialist Teacher

 

GO TEAM BOTWELL

CHANGES TO MATHS HOME LEARNING - YEAR 1 TO YEAR 6

 

Dear parent/carer,

 

Firstly, thank you so much for your engagement with the Maths Home Learning that we have been setting over the first few weeks with the children at home. We have had some really positive feedback and have seen some wonderful photos of children enjoying their Maths at home.

 

This is to let you know that, from next week, we are making a change in the maths lessons that the children complete.  The NCETM (National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics) have produced a series of video lessons.  These lessons have been organised by key stages rather than by year group.  Your child's teacher will include the links for the lessons for your child for each day in their weekly schedule.  This may mean that if you have a child in both Y3 and Y4 they will be completing the same lesson. This is because the planning has been done in a series of small steps that aim to ensure a depth of understanding in a concept.  The lesson series for each key stage will cover curriculum content for both year groups in that key stage.  All planning for these lessons has been overseen by the Primary Director of the NCETM, Debbie Morgan, and lessons are being planned and delivered by our Teaching for Mastery colleagues from all over the country.  I have been involved with the groups developing these lessons and can vouch for the meticulous level of scrutiny and thought that has gone into the lesson design.

 

The year 1 and 2 lessons will begin with Multiplication - they develop a good understanding of the concept and work with multiplying in groups of 2, 5 and 10.  The lessons for Years 3&4 and 5&6 will be on the concept of fractions.  I know that you have been looking at fractions for the past few weeks using the White Rose lessons. It is absolutely fine if the children cover some of the same content again.  Engagement with the NCETM lessons will give you a very good indication of how well your child has understood the concept.  The small steps in planning will help to fill any gaps and deepen the children's understanding.  Some of the mathematical vocabulary may seem challenging but is an important feature of the teaching -  the use of the correct mathematical vocabulary is an expectation in all Teaching for Mastery schools and we actively promote it here at Botwell House.

 

The lessons are accessible via YouTube and are usually around 20 minutes long.  Children may be asked to pause the video and answer questions in their exercise book and there are practice and challenge activities set at the end of lessons which will be referred back to in the next lesson so it is important that your child completes these.  

 

The decision to change has not been taken lightly.  Our school works closely with the NCETM via the Maths Hubs.  We believe that these lessons are the closest thing to the lessons that we would deliver face to face in school.  Our aim is that the children should have access to the best teaching at home and we believe that these lessons offer that.  

 

The NCETM have also put together a support page for parents about teaching and learning maths at home with suggested activities, video tips and answers to frequently asked questions. Click on this link to take you to the page https://www.ncetm.org.uk/resources/54432

 

We hope that you enjoy these lessons with your children.  We would love to hear from you about how you are getting on with them and if you have any questions, support is available by emailing maths@ibotwell.co.uk.

 

Stay well and safe

 

Mrs J Forde

Lead Maths Specialist Teacher