Capshard Primary School

Capshard Primary School is in Kirkcaldy, Fife, and has around 325 pupils.

Liz Gavin, deputy headteacher, discusses the whole-school programme

In November 2002 staff at Capshard Primary reviewed the school’s teaching of problem solving skills and decided that the maths programme of study was not providing what was required in terms of strategy development. Staff therefore worked out a programme that identified the stages at which each strategy should be introduced. 

They also looked at resources and produced a folder for each primary stage, which is divided according to strategy, with matched problems graded by difficulty. There is an annual plan that teachers complete on a termly basis where they identify the strategies they intend to cover and the resources they will use. 

Teachers are encouraged to carry out at least two open-ended investigations a year. Material devised by Kirkcaldy High School area working group supports this area of problem solving. 

Formative assessment is being introduced at the school, with teachers stating the learning intentions at the beginning of a class and holding a plenary session at the end. Pupils use a ‘traffic lights’ system to record how they have managed each problem. 

Liz Gavin hopes that the problem solving programme will develop pupils as thinkers and that the collaboration and discussion involved will spill over into other areas of the curriculum. 

Liz Gavin discusses the whole-school programme
Description	Liz Gavin talks about developing a whole-school programme featuring open-ended investigations and formative assessment
Duration	2 minutes 15 seconds
Windows version	Windows Media video: Liz Gavin discusses the whole-school programme
Mac version	QuickTime movie: Liz Gavin discusses the whole-school programme
Transcript	Liz Gavin discusses the whole-school programme

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Stages at Capshard Primary School