Dear Delegates
Tony Cotton, the editor i/c for Mathematics Teaching has been in touch with Mike Ollerton about a special issue on ‘Inclusion’ which is coming out later in the year. Tony is keen to include something about all-attainment teaching in that issue. 
It would be fantastic if delegates could write a paragraph or two about anything you might take back to your classrooms from the conferences. We have had some excellent contributions already, which have also been added to the blog post.
Any further contributions would be greatly appreciated. 
Please contact @michaelollerton @helenhindle1 or email mixedattainmentmaths@gmail.com
​
Thank you to everyone who attended the Conference on the 17th June 2017.
It was a fantastic day, with inspiring workshops, enthusiastic delegates and a great key note speech from out host, Hilary Povey.
You can access the workshop presentations by following the links below.

Andrew Blair
@inquirymaths

Inquiry maths and mixed attainment classes –
Inquiry Maths is a model of learning mathematics that was devised and developed in mixed attainment classrooms. It encourages students to regulate their own activity while exploring a prompt. An Inquiry Maths lesson starts with students' questions and conjectures and can involve diverse pathways. Inquiry guarantees inclusiveness, cohesion and equity as all contributions add to the findings of the class. Participants at the workshop will experience the excitement, unpredictability and creativity of classroom inquiries.

Zeb Friedman
@zebfriedman

Ideas for teaching mixed tier classes at KS4
 In my workshop I’d like to share some revision approaches that worked for me when teaching a class of 50 mixed attainment learners in year 11, sitting Foundation and Higher tier exams. And what a troop of ten actors had to do with it!

Hilary Povey

Working with number - Professor Hilary Povey CE, BA (Hons), PhD, Professor in Mathematics Education at Sheffield Hallam University
 Working with number is a central focus of the KS3 curriculum. We will look at some ideas from Smile Mathematics (https://smilemaths.wordpress.com/) that can be used in all attainment Y7 classes to develop number sense and skills.

Sam Hoggard
@Sam_Hoggard

Extending the highest prior attainers using number theory –
Participants will be invited to engage in tasks, no knowledge of number theory required, and reflect on this experience.

Michael Ollerton
@MichaelOllerton

Introducing and developing trigonometry with mixed-attainment Y10/Y11 classes –
People frequently say to me it would not be possible or be of any use to teach trigonometry to “bottom set” or “less able” pupils. I totally reject such a viewpoint. In this workshop I intend to illustrate, via trigonometry, why and how I base my values upon this quote from Bruner.
'With respect to making accessible the deep structure of any given discipline, I think the rule holds that any subject can be taught to any child at any age in some form that is both honest and powerful.  It is a premise that rests on the fact that more complex abstract ideas can in fact be rendered in an intuitive, operational form that comes within reach of any learner to aid him (sic) towards the more abstract idea yet to be mastered.'
Bruner, J. S. (1972), The relevance of education, Trowbridge: Redwood Press Ltd

Helen Hindle
@HelenHindle1

Ensuring support and challenge for all students in mixed attainment classes –
I often get asked, as a teacher of mixed-attainment mathematics classes, "How do you manage to ensure all students are both challenged and supported?" In this session I will bring examples of strategies and tasks I frequently use to seek to achieve these outcomes.

Tom Francome
@TFrancome

Grid Algebra: Developing fluency with formal notation –
Algebra is often seen as a hard to teach topic particularly for some groups of learners but do there have to be difficulties? In this session I offer an approach to working with the whole class 'economically' using Dave Hewitt's ideas of subordination to work on formal algebraic notation. This session might be useful if you've never used Grid Algebra but you believe all learners are capable of thinking algebraically.

Mark Horley
@mhorley

Keeping everyone moving: experiences of introducing mixed-attainment with Y7 & Y8 classes -
This session will seek to explore how to challenge the thinking of all learners in a mixed attainment setting and keep everyone learning. We will look at how mastery approaches that emphasise the whole class moving forward together work in practice when you have learners who may be at different starting points.

Leann de Belder
@LMPeters16

Problem-Solving in a mixed-attainment class
In this session we will look at effective ways of using open-ended problems and developing problem solving strategies in a mixed attainment classroom. We will focus on KS3, but the same format could be applied elsewhere.

Colin Jackson
@colfmjac

Over the last 10 years the Mathematics Education Centre at Sheffield Hallam has developed a number of free mathematics resources through the cre8ate maths and Maths in Context projects.  They are suitable for use with students of all attainment levels but in particular KS3.  This workshop will be a brief hands-on introduction to some of the cre8ate maths materials.