Mathematical challenges for able pupils in key stages 1 and 2

How should we organise within the school?

Within the class

You will probably teach able pupils in their own class for their daily mathematics lesson. They will cover the same topics as their peers but at a level to match their abilities. You can stretch them through differentiated group work, harder problems for homework and extra challenges - including investigations using ICT - which they can do towards the end of a unit of work when other pupils are doing consolidation exercises. The planning and structure of the National Numeracy Strategy address the needs of all pupils and help you to manage classes with wide-ranging attainment groups. Each pupil, very able or less able, needs to be part of one of these groups for at least some of the time and not restricted totally to individual working.

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With an older year group

Pupils who are exceptionally gifted in many subjects, and who are sufficiently mature, may be promoted to work with an older age group. For example, you could timetable Year 3 and Year 4 mathematics lessons at the same time. An exceptionally gifted pupil in Year 3 could be taught the subject with the Year 4 class and benefit from discussion with other pupils working at a similar level.

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Setting

Larger schools with parallel classes sometimes deal with a range of attainment by organising 'ability sets' for mathematics lessons. The advantage is that your planning can be easier if the attainment gap in a class is not too wide. You could set across, say, Years 5 and 6, if both years are timetabled for their mathematics lessons at the same time, although you need to ensure that when Year 5 pupils move into Year 6 they do not simply repeat the previous year's activities. Any setting arrangements need to be flexible to allow easy transfer of pupils between sets. The success of setting depends on very careful monitoring, close teamwork and co-operative planning among teachers to make sure that expectations for all pupils are suitably high and that lower expectations are not justified simply because pupils are in a 'lower set'.

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