Primary School - 28th October 2019

At NAIS Al Khor, we encourage and expect our students to be lifelong learners who always use their curiosity and creativity to learn new skills and become masters of the skills that they already possess. INSET days give teachers and learning assistants the perfect opportunity to model this behaviour as education theories are always changing and it is vital that we keep up to date on modern ways of teaching and learning.

On Sunday 27th October the primary teachers and learning assistants spent the day learning more about maths and the best ways to teach it so that every child can succeed. The day was led by Michael Connor from our sister school in Dubai and he certainly stretched our mathematical brain cells. We investigated ways to use physical resources to help children understand abstract maths strands such as algebra and, in particular, how to use the Bar Model Method. 

The Bar Model Method is a  teaching strategy from Singapore which consistently boasts the worlds highest achieving mathematicians. It is a deceptively simple method that can be used from Foundation stage through to secondary school to help children visualise maths problems. I am sure your child will soon be talking about this method at home and we will be offering a Parent Workshop on how it works and why we use it early in term 2 for those of you that are interested. If you would like a taster, you can see a short video that I made here that runs through some of the basics. 

It was a brain-tiring but inspirational day full of new learning and the teachers are looking forward to passing this learning on to their students in the coming half term.

Rebecca Kirkby
Primary Deputy Head and PD lead