Airlie Primary School
Airlie Primary School is in a rural setting near Kirriemuir in Angus. There are about 60 pupils and the staff are trained in the critical skills programme.
Fiona Hislop, headteacher, discusses the whole-school programme
Problem solving at Airlie Primary School was raised as an action point at an inspection in 2002. Having covered problem solving as it arose in the core maths resource (Heinemann Maths), teachers began to focus on teaching strategies. They initiated a progressive programme and assembled a bank of resources for each strategy based on TENS, and Apex Maths materials (Cambridge University Press) plus the teachers’ own resources. Problem solving is timetabled once a week as part of the maths curriculum.
All of the staff at the school have been trained in the critical skills approach and this means that problem solving appears very widely across the curriculum - one challenge for example involved developing bird feed.
Fiona feels that, thanks to the problem solving programme, pupils are now able to explain their thinking. The critical skills approach has improved pupils’ ability to identify their own strengths and skills so that they know what they can bring to a group activity.
Files
Airlie Primary School - Programme of study (2.8 MB)| Fiona Hislop discusses the whole-school programme | |
|---|---|
| Description | Fiona Hislop describes the background to the whole-school programme and the critical skills approach |
| Duration | 2 minutes 24 seconds |
| Windows version |  Windows Media video: Fiona Hislop discusses the whole-school programme |
| Mac version |  QuickTime movie: Fiona Hislop discusses the whole-school programme |
| Transcript | Fiona Hislop discusses the whole-school programme |
Stages at Airlie Primary School
- P6/P7, Airlie Primary School
Problem solving using a critical thinking approach.