Salford Reds Foundation – in association with Learning Point CIC – began an Innovative Numeracy programme for Primary School Children in Salford in late 2017. Young people from across the region attend Maths Booster Classes on Saturday mornings that aim to narrow the gap in achievement between disadvantaged children and their peers from more affluent backgrounds.
Children are placed in classes of around 20 with a member of staff assigned to each table of 4 which enables an intensive maths programme, using the maths mastery approach, which is adopted in most schools across the country. In conjunction with the primary school, a bespoke programme of study is designed for each child using baseline assessment as a starting point. Each child is given individual and group tutoring each Saturday at in Salford Red Devils Foundations’ classrooms at the The Salford Stadium.
In the pilot programme the impact was significant. David Nightingale, Headteacher at Moorfield Primary school was closely involved and organised his schools involvement in the initiative. Dermot Craven of Craven Group sponsored the programme through his corporate social responsibility commitment – and has pledged to subsidise opportunities for disadvantaged children for years to come.
During the autumn term around 20 children from Moorfield Primary attended Maths Booster Classes facilitated by The Salford Red Devils Foundation. Transport was organised to enable attendance for the children and parental support was a key factor in the success. A parents meeting was held prior to the start of the programme to maximise attendance and galvanise support. Response was extremely positive and led to the following.
- An overall attendance figure for the programme of 95.6%.
- An overall cohort improvement in attainment of 22% per child based on rigorous assessment.
- A child satisfaction rating of 95% when asked ‘would you return to do this again?’
- A satisfaction rating of 100% for Teaching and Learning.
- The programme enabled the school to identify or confirm gaps in knowledge of individuals.
As a reward for all the hard work, the final session saw all students invited to watch Salford Red Devils play live against Wigan Warriors where players met the students and congratulated them on their numeracy skills. The success of their programme has been a key factor in the take up rate from schools across the city for the remainder of the year. To date over 500 children have attended Maths Booster Classes on Saturday Mornings.
All Impact data has been roughly in line with the figures from Moorfield Primary School. Salford Red Devils Foundation and Learning Point are actively developing Numeracy Programmes for the remainder of the year developing twilight sessions for schools starting September 2018.
For more information and to get involved please contact neil.blackburn@salfordreddevils.com or call 0161 786 1591.
