When Ofsted visited Stonesfield in December 2017 Maths was an area identified for improvement. Since then, improving the quality of Maths teaching has been a key priority and I am delighted to say that standards have risen considerably. This academic year ends with our current cohort of Year 6 pupils achieving our aspirational target to be in the top 20% of all schools with 92% meeting the expected national standard and 33% achieving greater depth.
The school is committed to Maths Mastery – in essence, children acquiring a deep, long-term, secure understanding. This is done through:
- Using manipulatives and images to develop conceptual understanding;
- Children acquiring quick recall of number facts, including bonds and times tables;
- Having high expectations for all children, including expecting all children to reason and problem solve.
Teamwork and collaboration are skills we admire at Stonesfield and over the last few months our teachers have been collaborating with staff at Wychwood C of E Primary School to further refine our Maths teaching. In small schools teachers have the added challenge of teaching mixed age classes with a wide attainment range. Collaborating with Wychwood gave our staff the opportunity to see Maths in action at a similar school, take away some new strategies and reaffirm that our day to day approach is sound and our pupils are developing into confident mathematicians.
In other news, on behalf of our staff I would like to thank our parish council for the grant awarded to us for the refurbishment of our staff room. Our dedicated staff have had such a challenging and stressful year – putting themselves at risk of infection while the school was partially open, adapting to remote learning, and working within tight covid guidance. A spruced up staff room will go a long way to boosting their morale and wellbeing.
The Governing Body are still actively recruiting a governor with financial expertise. If you are interested, or know someone who is, please get in touch.
If you are new to the village or local area and looking for primary school places, please get in touch to arrange a tour and see our wonderful school for yourself.
Ben Trevail
Headteacher
email: head.2353@stonesfield.oxon.sch.uk