Charity / support groups and educational professionals the Maths For Life programme:
EXISTS and is on a mission to make maths accessible to all.
FOCUSES on the ability to do simple maths accurately, independently and in real life settings.
INVESTS in the correct methods to engage students and improve their potential to live a successful and independent life.
DELIVERS IMPACT for the children, young adults and families you support in a passionate, empathetic manner based on personal experience.
The approach consists of:
+
+
=
Maths For Life
Read more about the Maths For Life programme below or visit the FAQs page, where we have a series of video responses.
The Programme
The collective voice of charity groups and educational professionals is extremely influential. Parents and teachers listen to and follow the guidance provided. With this in mind, it is extremely important that you know that the Maths For Life programme exists and is on a mission to make maths accessible to all children and young adults with additional learning needs.
From the initial concept phase, the Maths For Life programme has been supported by key members of the Down syndrome community. Parents, teachers, teaching assistants as well as trustees and directors from a number of Down syndrome charities formed part of the guiding focus group. It is supported by a community who share ideas, welcome feedback and strive to improve attainment levels in maths for everyone.
Although still relatively new, the programme is already making an impact. We are engaged with the specialist teaching services at several county councils in England and been included within the Local Offer of Barnet. We have delivered workshops and training for a number of charity groups across the UK and indeed further afield via an invitation from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. Following the success of the year long pilot, we have continued into Year 1 of the Down’s Syndrome Oxford Group programme and are now actively engaged with over 40 students via parents and schools.
It has been recognised that the programme is not just for primary age students. As the programme is age neutral, it is also being used at secondary and tertiary level with young adults, motivated by the desire to live independently, working through the programme. And, although it was inspired by the needs of learners with Down syndrome, it can be applied to all individuals with additional learning needs for whom the standard maths curriculum structure and timescale is unattainable.
The Maths For Life programme delivers a differentiated approach to teaching maths that will provide the essential maths needed for life and hopefully more.
The Books
Book 1 covers the first two stages of the Maths For Life programme - the Foundations and Level 1. Book 2 and Book 3 cover Level 2 and Level 3 respectively. The Foundations stage starts at the beginning with Topic 0 - the prenumber skills. These are the skills that can be started at home, long before formal education begins. The earlier mathematical vocabulary and numbers are heard the more ‘friendly’ they will be and, just like phonics, will form part of an early development and intervention programme.
Each stage of the programme covers the same mathematical topics - 1. Using Numbers and The Number System; 2. Using Common Measures, Shape and Space; and 3. Handling Information and Data. This ensures that the programme delivers the breadth of understanding across all topics that are needed to deliver the essential maths for life.
Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 follow on seamlessly from the Foundations stage and build on the scope and complexity of the topic in an incremental and logical way. The books include a Record of Progress for each stage and a set of sample questions.
The majority of the content within Foundations, Level 1 and Level 2 sits within the current maths national curriculum of the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1. Level 3 moves into Key Stage 2 content. The Maths For Life Level 1 is the equivalent of the government set Functional Skills Entry Level 1 content and Maths For Life Level 2, 3 and 4 combine to be equivalent of Entry Level 2.
The Resource Library
And, via the subscription based membership, the programme provides a series of comprehensive workbooks by topic, templates and other resources to offer a variety of ways to repeat the same skill - providing repetition whilst still engaging the student. During term time there is a Weekly General Workbook published for all levels containing 10 general / across topic questions. All resources are designed with saving time and effort in mind.
A topic workbook may contain upwards of 40 individual worksheets that start with ‘easy to try’ and work through all options to ‘secured’ in that topic. They are colourful and engaging pdfs that can be viewed on a computer / interactive board or printed in colour or black and white. Most workbooks have also got an ‘Eco Ink’ version available to keep printing costs down.
The workbooks also contain a diverse set of named characters that are age neutral - meaning that Zoe and Milly could be 6, 16 or 26 years old - allowing them to be accessed by older students without them feeling ‘babyish’.
Content is varied and caters for a wide ranging audience.
The Support
I am Karen. I love maths, always have, and I am on a mission to improve the image and attainment levels in maths for everyone… including my son Lance who as Down syndrome. I believe that the Maths For Life programme delivers a differentiated approach to teaching maths that will provide my son with the essential maths he needs for life and hopefully more.
I am here to help you to support the families and individuals with additional learning needs that you support.
Via video technology, and hopefully at some point in the future in real life too, I can provide training, workshops, assessments and advise. The cost of bulk purchases, training, workshops and other bespoke support are priced and quoted on request. I run a regular Q&A session via Zoom. These are group sessions that are open to parents, teachers, teaching assistants, SENCOs, Maths Lead, SLT, Educational professionals and anyone else who would like to find out more about the programme or ask a specific question related to ongoing use of the programme. You can check availability and book onto a session here. You can also request a brochure.
The Maths For Life programme is supported by a community who share ideas, welcome feedback and strive to improve attainment levels in maths for everyone. It is a work in progress. I am committed to developing this programme long term - for my son and for everyone else who deserves the ability to secure the maths skills they need for life.
Small steps, big impact.
“Development which is driven by personal desire, framed by inspiration and delivers something life changing is never a bad thing!”
