At Westbourne House, we champion Realising: using skills accurately and automatically. Why? Because the more you practise skills the more natural they become and you can deploy them quickly and automatically, leaving your brain free to work on more complex thinking.
Mrs Langford, Head of Maths, said: "That's why we have a Maths Realising Week, which focuses on times tables. We want to encourage pupils to aim for times table automaticity, where you ‘just know' the answer."
Throughout the week, pupils practised their times tables and asked teachers to test them. By doing this, pupils earned points for their patrol. Believe it or not, when we averaged the total times table questions answered/patrol, all four patrols were within a few points of each other (Tigers – 50, Otters – 49, Panthers and Owls – 47). Pupils who achieved the highest number of correct times tables, in the time available, represented their year and patrol in the Inter-Patrol Times Table Competition at the end of the week.
The Maths Department's aim is to ensure that every pupil can find joy in maths, has a deep understanding of mathematical concepts and instinctively knows that they are a fantastic, budding mathematician. To this aim, Mrs Langford set out on a 'world tour' of the school with her Maths Magic Show! She wowed the crowds, aged 4 - 9, with her number mind reading, a series of tricks involving a sphere and a Möbius band, and by making a certain playing card magically turn up right next to a named card in the pack. Pupils were heard to gasp: “How did she do that?”, “that’s cool” and “that’s magic!”
The culmination of the week was the Inter-Patrol Times Table Competition; pupils tried their best for their patrol and because the competition was tight, pupils needed lightening reflexes.
“What is the square route of 169?” Mr Allingham asked. All four hands hit the button, but it was the Year 8 Panther rep who was the quickest - “13”
It was brilliant and exciting to watch. Well done to everyone who took part.
