A couple of years ago, Merdon Junior School, led by Miss Loosemore, began a Maths Mastery journey alongside the Solent Maths Hub and it has changed the way we think and deliver our maths curriculum.

As part of that journey, Miss Loosemore was invited to learn more about Maths Mastery in Shanghai! She has been keeping us up to date with her experiences and we'd like to share them with you. There seems to be so many similarities and differences between our school and theirs!

What do you see that is the same and different to our school?

Take a look at their school uniform, their classroom environment and displays, the school grounds and even the staff room!

What questions would you like to ask Miss Loosemore when she gets back? Jot them down ready for her return!

Where is Shanghai?

Shanghai is located on the east China coast just south of the mouth of the Yangtze river. Did you know that the name of the city means "on the sea"!

Dear children

Day One - 11th November 2019

I just wanted to give you all a quick update to say we had our first day in school today which was really exciting! There is definitely so much to learn from the experts here!!

Our school this week is in a very different area to Chandlers Ford and the children are amazing! They are so friendly and they concentrate so well!!

I have attached some photos for you! Just off to after school club!'

Miss Loosemore
 

Dear children,

I have settled into the time difference now so whilst you are all sleeping, I am just off for another day in school.

The maths teaching has really blown us all away and I can’t wait to share some of the lessons! The teachers really make it seem easy getting the children to notice patterns! I am learning so much and it is inspiring how they fit so much in in every 36 minute lesson!

Miss you all!

Miss Loosemore

Week Two

Dear children,

This week I visited a second campus. We spent an afternoon planning our own lessons, which we then taught the next day! This helped us to understand the small steps in learning which would help us with our teaching.

We really enjoyed planning and teaching with our Shanghai teacher Li. In the lesson, the children did so well using their recall of number bonds within ten to find subtraction facts within 20. This was their second lesson ever using number boards to 20 but it really helped them to improve their thinking. They also loved our context of the Queen’s corgis!

The children were brilliant at using their own examples, using smaller numbers, to prove or disprove. We have seen such good lessons and we have so much to take away from this visit. I am looking forward to sharing this all with you and your teachers when I get best.

I have missed you all at Merdon and am looking forward to seeing you all next week!

Miss Loosemore