Mixed attainment sets explained

Why we teach in mixed attainment mathematics classes in year 7 and 8

The National Curriculum states that: pupils should make rich connections across mathematical ideas to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competence in solving increasingly sophisticated problems.

In year 7 and 8 we strive to address these key aims of the National Curriculum by teaching, as far as possible, through open-ended tasks often described as “low threshold, high ceiling” activities. The idea being that everyone is able to make a start on the problem but rapid graspers may quickly develop the task into one where they generalise results or structures; look for creative ways to explain or justify their findings; make and test conjectures or explore possible extensions or variations to the initial problem.

Through these tasks we develop mathematical literacy and a sense of curiosity. Students learn from one another that there is more than one way to approach a problem and, indeed, often more than one “right” answer. Since we started teaching in mixed attainment groups three years ago, we have found that some of the best discussions have taken place between students with very different KS2 attainment scores which reinforces our belief that students should not be pigeon holed purely based on exam performance so early on in their secondary school career. We know that students join us with differing prior experience of mathematics and we want to enable every child to have the opportunity to achieve highly in this important subject.

For previously high attaining students, we challenge them to really unpick the structure of number and deepen their understanding of why things happen the way they do in mathematics. These students are often very competent at the fluency aspect of the topics that we cover but find it more difficult to select the appropriate Maths to apply to multi step problems or questions set in unfamiliar contexts. Challenge homeworks are being developed to extend the work that we do in class and our Most Able are invited to Prime Time Maths club on a Tuesday after school.

For those who have previously struggled with the subject, we use Cooper School skill set tests to highlight gaps in understanding and our dedicated Maths HLTAs do follow up intervention sessions to attempt to address these. Classwork is always planned to meet the needs of the previously high attaining students but differentiated to allow increased support for those who need it.

For all students, we have KS3 Maths club during Weds P5 where students can ask for help with homework or classwork as well as tackle mathematical puzzles.

In KS4 (starting in year 9) we broadly group students based on attainment so that those who still have gaps in their understanding of the required building blocks for GCSE Maths are taught in smaller Foundation classes, whilst those who are secure in these techniques will follow the Higher curriculum. However, we still do not make final decisions about GCSE tiers of entry until year 11 as we do not want to cap our students’ ambition.