39The Moreton Hall Directory

Here are my top 5 tips...

1 Make it funYou may not have enjoyed learning maths yourself at school but times and methods have changed. We work hard to make maths fun for your child at school and you can make it fun at home too. Use things like games, puzzles and cooking, to bring the use, and familiarity of numbers to life.

Several games, such as monopoly, involve handling and counting money. Cooking will involve a huge amount of maths - measuring out quantities and perhaps halving or doubling up quantities. Many puzzles will involve logical problem solving skills.

2 Don’t PanicEven if you think (wrongly) that you are ‘really bad at maths’ try not to show it. Keep calm and encourage your child to talk through any problems they are trying to solve; treat it like a puzzle waiting to be solved not something to be frightened of. It really doesn’t matter if you explain a different method to your child – there is always more than one way to solve any problem and it will help to build up their mathematical resilience.

3 Make it relevantIt’s important to bring maths out of the classroom and show your child how we use maths skills in our everyday lives at home – for instance comparing best deals and discounts, sports results, planning a journey, planning a party or even wrapping parcels!

Maths is an essential part of our lives today.

4 Practice makes perfectIt’s important to encourage your child to practice their mathematical skills in a way that increases both confidence and understanding. There are many good published and free resources available. However practice should also be fun and I would encourage you not to rely totally on the published workbooks. Websites such as www.mangahigh.com - a free games-based maths teaching resource - are invaluable in encouraging reluctant mathematicians to have a go and to put in the practice time.

5 Don’t give upI find it so sad when students revert to ‘Don’t get it’ as an excuse to give up on a problem; they appear too scared to have a go in case they make a mistake. The whole point of school is that you are allowed to make mistakes and to learn from them.

Making mistakes is a very important part of learning maths and it is so important to encourage your child to have a go. If they make a mistake use it as an opportunity to learn, ask them to show how they got that answer and very often by revisiting the solution they can correct their own mistakes and deepen their own understanding and resilience.

A final reflection: It is a fact that students are required to have certain mathematical skills and these are important. However they are only the tools to enable the success to follow. Your child will have to be able to apply these skills when problem solving; they will have to learn to become independent problem solvers with mathematical resilience.

3 Make it relevant It’s important to bring maths out of the classroom and show your child how we use maths skills in our everyday lives at home – for instance comparing best deals and discounts, sports results, plan-ning a journey, planning a party or even wrapping parcels! Maths is an essential part of our lives today. 4 Practice makes perfect It’s important to encourage your child to practice their mathematical skills in a way that increases both confidence and understanding. There are many good published and free resources available. How-ever practice should also be fun and I would encourage you not to rely totally on the published workbooks. Websites such as www.mangahigh.com – A free games-based maths teaching re-source are invaluable in encouraging reluctant mathematicians to have a go and to put in the practice time. 5 Don’t give up I find it so sad when students revert to ‘Don’t get it’ as an excuse to give up on a problem; they appear too scared to have a go in case they make a mistake. The whole point of school is that you are al-lowed to make mistakes and to learn from them. Making mistakes is a very important part of learning maths and it is so important to encourage your child to have a go. If they make a mistake use it as an opportunity to learn, ask them to show how they got that answer and very often by revisiting the solution they can correct their own mistakes and deepen their own understanding and resilience. A final reflection: It is a fact that students are required to have certain mathematical skills and these are important. However they are only the tools to enable the success to follow. Your child will have to be able to apply these skills when problem solving; they will have to learn to become independent problem solvers with mathematical resilience. Practise lots, be confident and have fun.

Claire Meadows-Smith Head of Maths, St Albans RC High School Ipswich and Founder of The Community Maths School

Parents often ask me how they can best help their child with maths. My answer is invariably the same, simply “help build their Mathematical confidence”. Here are my top 5 tips to help build the con-fidence of your child with maths.

1 Make it fun You may not have enjoyed learning maths yourself at school but times and methods have changed. We work hard to make maths fun for your child at school and you can make it fun at home too. Use things like games, puzzles and cooking, to bring the use, and familiarity of numbers to life. Several games, such as monopoly, involve handling and counting money. Cooking will involve a huge amount of maths - measuring out quantities and perhaps halving or doubling up quantities. Many puzzles will involve logical problem solving skills. 2 Don’t Panic Even if you think (wrongly) that you are ‘really bad at maths’ try not to show it. Keep calm and encour-age your child to talk through any problems they are trying to solve; treat it like a puzzle waiting to be solved not something to be frightened of. It really doesn’t matter if you explain a different method to your child – there is always more than one way to solve any problem and it will help to build up their mathematical resilience.

Parenting by numbers - 5 Top Tips to Help Your Child with Maths

The Community Maths School

BURY ST EDMUNDS www.communitymathsschool.co.uk

Claire Meadows-Smith 07747 037 441

High Quality maths tuition at KS3, KS4 and A Level at affordable prices

Frightened of Maths?

confidence boosting & enjoyable sessions in small groups

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6 sessions courses up to GCSE level £90 and A level £20 per session

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Parents often ask me how they can best help their child with maths. My answer is invariably the same, simply “help build their Mathematical confidence”.

Parenting by numbers - 5 Top Tips to Help Your Child with Maths

Claire Meadows-SmithHead of Maths, St Albans RC High School, Ipswich and Founder of The Community Maths School

Practise lots, be confident and have fun.