My Best course - Real-life maths

'As a school we have maths as a priority on the school improvement plan. I wanted to discover if my way of assessing was in line, through talk with practitioners from a wider area than just my borough,' says foundation stage leader Liz Jarvis. 'I wanted to convince others of the value of what we do and how our observation and photo assessment is valid and shows real learning.'

The three-hour Everyday Maths for Everyday Provisions course has been designed by, and is delivered by, Elaine Bennett of Early Education, who has written a book of the same name. It advocates a 'real-life' approach to maths for both children and adults, exploring maths inside and outside the setting, understanding the importance of the adult in children's mathematical learning, and thinking of ways to enhance this learning and challenging negative perceptions of the subject.

Ms Jarvis says research shows how real materials in the environment can be incorporated into real-life problem solving. The documents and presentation used on the course were combined with personal photos and anecdotes from Ms Bennett to show how relating to numbers can be easy.

Ms Jarvis adds, 'We can deliver the maths curriculum fully through using our regular provision of resources: hollow blocks, tyres, diggers and the workshop area. The extended maths comes from the questioning from adult and child, the exploration and problem solving. This produces better maths thinking and develops the whole child through motivating different attitudes to learning.'

Her class now explores maths in a variety of real-life settings rather than just in the classroom. 'We now work with numbers outside where they are relevant, not just in a line on a wall for no good purpose other than display,' she says.

Ms Jarvis also hopes to address the negative attitudes to maths among parents: 'We have previously put on parent sessions for phonics and for play and will now offer a maths session next term to give parents ideas for the summer holiday. We do send maths activities home, and my Reception class in particular seem keen to have a go.'