Chch Children Benefit From ENP And ANP Numeracy

1 May 2002

Christchurch Children Benefit From Established ENP And ANP Numeracy Project

A new method of teaching maths has been hailed a success at one Christchurch primary school.

For more than a year, ENP (the Early Numeracy Project) has been in place at Selwyn House School, with the ANP (Advanced Numeracy Project) implemented around the same time. The school has found that the maths projects have not only helped the students with their numeracy but have had a positive flow on effect in other areas of their education.

Communication and inquiry are two key components of the programmes, and principal, Jane Lapthorn, says this complements the teaching philosophy at Selwyn House.

"The Numeracy Projects focus on knowledge and strategy. It's not about regurgitation of facts and figures without understanding why or how. At Selwyn House we encourage children to be innovative and to take a risk with their learning. With the support of their teachers they work through any problems. Innovation and risk taking are important in our teaching philosophy and to the success of our teaching," says Jane Lapthorn.

Mrs Lapthorn says it was a challenge to implement the programmes because last year they were only available to lower decile schools, through the Ministry of Education. Selwyn House is a decile 10, independent school.

"One of our new teachers brought the value of the numeracy projects to our attention early in 2001. Catherine Corcoran had been working with the programme at another school and she talked about it enthusiastically. We approached the Ministry of Education with a view to putting it in place and were told we did not qualify," says Jane Lapthorn.

Selwyn House then investigated other avenues by which they could implement the maths programme, and approached an independent education consultant, Geoff Woolford, formerly a maths advisor with the Ministry of Education.

After a great deal of hard work, persistence and focus, the numeracy programme was up and running in a matter of weeks.

Catherine Corcoran was amazed at the enthusiasm amongst her colleagues.

"When I mentioned the programmes to my teaching team leader, I was unsure how she would react as I had only been at Selwyn House for a week or so. But after we talked about ENP and its obvious advantages for the girls, we all worked exceptionally hard to put the programmes in place," says Catherine.

Mathematics teaching at Selwyn House was recently praised by the Education Review Office following a visit in February this year. The ERO team also said they were impressed by the excellent quality of the teaching and learning programmes at the school, the establishment of a unique curriculum with the bigger picture in mind, and the commitment of the teachers to being life long learners themselves.

Ends

For more information, please contact:
Ali Jones Public Relations (Christchurch)
Level 2
53 Victoria Street
Telephone: 03 366 9450
Fax: 03 366 9470

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