Carol Anderson found Big Maths:

• Moderately improves attainment“The term planners support teachers to plan learning and activities. Where learning gaps are identified by teachers Big Maths provides a clear set of steps which the teacher can then use to revisit prior learning and address any learning gaps. The formative assessments are also useful tools to support teaching and learning to identify and address learning gaps on an individual level.”
• Significantly builds student knowledge“The students are taught a range of strategies that are built upon as they progress through Big Maths. The students are also encouraged to explain their workings to show a deeper understanding rather than just provide the answer. Through the formative assessments students are able to progress at their own speed and can receive additional support with their learning when needed.”
• Moderately reduces attainment gap“As Big Maths can be used to identify learning gaps at the individual level the teacher can then work with individuals or small groups to address the gaps.”
• Moderately improves teaching efficiency and productivity“The term planners provide a clear structure as to what should be covered each term across Numeracy and Maths. The resources provided by Big Maths can be used for teaching input and follow up activities. This does not prevent the teacher using their own resources to work together with the Big Maths resources.”
• Moderately reduces teacher workload“Planning - term planners provided Resources - teaching and follow up activities Learning gaps - identified at individual level”
• Moderately improves teacher knowledge and skills“Strategies - provides a range of strategies that may or may not be familiar Progress steps - provides a clear progression path for learning, so if there are gaps teachers can look at progress steps and find a suitable starting point.”
• Slightly saves school money“Where weekly challenges can be done online this reduces the cost of delivery, however due to the availability of technology and younger children not accessing online challenges as well as the older children there is a printing cost to the weekly challenges. As an online resource all teachers can access the resources as and when they want rather than needing to share resources or buy more resources.”
• Significantly provides school data“Formative assessment provided from weekly challenges. Student progress can be tracked and monitored over various time gaps. Teachers can look at a graph of their whole class and then look at individuals within that.”
• Moderately improves parental engagement“Our school has run workshops to show parents Big Maths, what a lesson would look like, an overview of some of the strategies that are taught in Big Maths and how we can use it to identify learning gaps. The workshops were well attended as parents want to understand the approach that the school is using in the teaching of numeracy and maths. During home learning many of our parents have asked for support to work with their children on their learning gaps as they have been observing their children complete their weekly challenges.”
• Moderately improves behaviour or wellbeing“As any change is introduced there can be resistance however personally following the Big Maths training I decided to go for it and use both the CLIC and SAFE resources with my class. Working with colleagues who went with the same approach we were able to work together to find out practical ways of using Big Maths that supported our teaching and learning as best it could. We continue to share experiences with each other and our other colleagues. Again personally I feel confident in using Big Maths as a resource and I know that I am delivering numeracy and maths to my students using tried and tested progression steps and strategies. This in turn has a positive impact on my own wellbeing.”