What do schools think about our VCs?
Value of activities and resources
Benefits for students
Benefits for teachers
General
"Participating as a whole school is a great way to maintain a high profile for Maths in our school. It provides the staff, pupils and parents ample opportunity to discuss strategies and provides a shared experience for all that we can refer to and build on."
Primary teacher, UK, West Midlands (day conference - "Mathematical Games")
"Thankyou - all the children said they enjoyed the day and were desperate to be included in the next one!"
Secondary teacher, UK, South East (day conference - "Magic Squares")
"They were able to experience a range of ideas and project work not on the curriculum , broadening their perspective into a difficult and fascinating area which was presented in an engaging and accessible way. The students also enjoyed the contact with other schools."
6th form teacher, UK, South East (day conference - "Time in Physics")
"It has shown the students how probability is used in real life situations. It has encouraged students from different classes to work together."
6th form teacher, UK, South East (day conference - "Probability and Risk")
"it was a very interesting day and all of our pupils learnt a little more and even the ones who might not normally be too enthusiastic were interested and actually enjoyed the feedback sessions."
Secondary teacher, UK, South East (day conference - "Magic Squares")
"Thank you for your efforts on Tuesday. My boys really enjoyed the day and made a start on the competition on return to school. I am adapting some of the material for my year 7 maths challenge group as I think these lower attaining learners will also enjoy the topic."
Secondary teacher, UK, North West (day conference - "Magic Squares")
"Children were very keen to hear feedback and enjoyed discussing the feedback after the VC. Comments supported children and validated their hard work whilst offering advice and suggestions for further study. The children were rather disappointed that other schools did not have more questions and had to be prompted – they had many other questions to ask the other schools and reported that they would like more time to question and share with each other."
Primary teacher, UK, South East (2 VC conference - "Calculator Fun")
Value of our activities and resources
"We really enjoyed having the tasks modelled and then given time to explore and discuss together before reporting back to the whole group. Children were encouraged and all comments valued by the presenters."
Primary teacher, UK, South East (2-VC conference - "Calculator Fun"
"They managed to complete some maths outside of the normal curriculum, use some simple ideas of proof and cover aspects of maths that were unexpected such as the transformations."
Secondary teacher, UK, South East (day conference - "Magic Squares")
"Their mathematical language has improved and they are more careful with explanations of their work. Hearing other students talk about mathematics."
6th form teacher, UK, North West (day conference - "Proof")
Benefits for students:
"I am accompanying one of my learners who got through to the final round of the International Statistical Literacy Project competition. There are 45 learners from around the world taking part in this final round, 4 are from South Africa ... The learner I am accompanying had also taken part in the video conferences from a few years back (grade 8/9) she is now in grade 11, so I know that she has learnt something useful."
Secondary teacher, South Africa (long project - "UK/SA")
"They now investigate more independently before asking me for the answers."
Secondary teacher, UK, London (long project - "It's not that I'm smart")
"Appreciation of how maths links to the real world."
Secondary teacher, UK, South West (long project - "Reading between the lines: Communicating in code")
"They found the activities 'fun', 'stimulating' and encouraged enquiring minds."
Primary teacher, UK, North West (2-VC conference - "Calculator Fun")
"They were thinking on a wider scale and understood what proofs were and different kinds of proofs."
6th form teacher, UK, North West (day conference, "Proof")
"1. Gave them insight into the procedures involved in video conferencing.
"2. First experience of relating to peers who were not familiar."
Primary teacher, UK, South East (2-VC conference - "Google Earth")
"Enables pupils to gain essential real life experiences and teaches them new skills as well as teaching them to apply acquired learning."
Primary teacher, UK, South East (2-VC conference - "Google Earth"
"They have seen the maths they are learning being used in science."
6th form teacher, UK, North East (day conference - "Einstein's Theory of Relativity")
"They had a new experience in being taught via video conference and sharing findings with pupils from other schools. They learned a new way of thinking and answering questions. They learned to debate whilst accepting others points of view."
Secondary teacher, UK, North West (day conference - "Impossible")
"Seeing other schools/pupils and their contributions, input from a good provider which extends the maths experience of our pupils."
Secondary teacher, UK, South East (day conference - "Magic Squares")
"They were keen to investigate back in the classroom and motivated to work independently – even those who struggle in this area! There was fierce competition to be voted as a presenter for each group and some children who are usually shy were keen to contribute to the PowerPoint and present. Children began to discuss their methods of calculation more freely than usual and they began to value trial and error and develop systems to solve the calculations more quickly."
Primary teacher, UK, South East (2-VC conference - "Calculator Fun")
Benefits for teachers:
It was good "sharing skills and knowledge, being encouraged by our own children's thought processes."
Primary teacher, UK, North West (2-VC conference - "Calculator Fun")
"We gained ideas for activities we could do ourselves."
Secondary teacher, UK, North East (enrichment maths day - "101 Uses of a Quadratic Equation")
"Broadens subject knowledge and is interesting :)".
6th form teacher, UK, North East (day conference - "Einstein's Theory of Relativity")
"It allows us to take ourselves out of our comfort zones and to almost sit back and observe our pupils at work."
Secondary teacher, UK, North West (day conference - "Impossible")
"The opportunity to see the approach used by other schools and to work with the pupils on unusual tasks."
Secondary teacher, UK, South East (day conference - "Magic Squares")
"Specifically - Re- introducing staff to the NRICH website was a bonus. I think all of us made a mental note to get on there more often. Generally – all your VC’s promote Maths as an exciting, stimulating and fun subject. Those are 3 adjectives not traditionally associated with Maths. Anything that promotes a love of Maths in such a manner is a great asset to teachers."
Primary teacher, UK, West Midlands (day conference - "Mathematical Games")
