What mastery has done for our school

Jenny Laurie is a deputy head and maths teacher at The St Marylebone CE School in central London. The school was one of the very earliest to adopt a teaching for mastery approach in maths.

When two maths teachers visited Shanghai, they were particularly struck by the collaborative nature of curriculum planning there, and resolved to introduce a more collegiate way of planning at St Marylebone.

Initially something of a sceptic, Jenny explains why she has been completely won over by the changes they have made, and what she hopes this might mean for their GCSE results in 2020. 

Episode chapters

• 00:52: The school and Jenny’s role
• 02:55: Why the school changed the way they taught maths
• 04:24: How the maths department used to work
• 05:05: How they decided to change
• 08:41: The first collaborative planning meeting (on fractions)
• 11:31: Deciding on a system of planning meetings
• 12:40: How is time for these meetings created now?
• 14:44: How collaborative planning saves time
• 15:17: How the planning sessions work
• 16:51: Retention and development of staff
• 17:42: Jenny’s development as a class teacher
• 19:55: Sending one teacher out of school for CPD
• 20:53: Not scripted lessons
• 21:36: When a planned lesson doesn’t work
• 22:58: The effects on students (engagement, results…)
• 25:34: What the data is showing about attainment of all students
• 26:55: Enabling staff to be excellent teachers
• 28:00: Other departments’ interest in collaborative planning
• 30:01: Jenny’s advice to other schools’ senior leaders