For over a decade, New Pasture Lane Primary School has used Mathletics to create a powerful culture of engagement around mathematics.
This close-knit, one-form entry school in Bridlington uses our online maths program to increase home participation and support all learners.
The challenge: increasing maths confidence and home participation
Like many schools, New Pasture Lane recognised opportunities to strengthen several areas of maths learning:
- Home engagement: increasing student participation outside school hours.
- Accessibility: ensuring all students can access concepts regardless of reading confidence.
- Teacher efficiency: providing flexible resources that complement existing practices.
Mrs. Hetherington, Year 4 teacher and Maths Lead, explains:
“The main reason we got Mathletics was to increase participation at home. We wanted something the children and parents could engage with outside of school time.”
The solution: a whole-school approach with Mathletics
Seamless home-school learning connection
New Pasture Lane implemented Mathletics to create seamless learning between classroom and home, enabling teachers to assign targeted tasks that extend classroom topics beyond school hours:
- Curriculum alignment: Teachers set Mathletics activities that match weekly classroom topics. “Aligning the tasks really helps. If we’re doing addition that week, I can set the addition activities as an extra supplement,” explains Mrs Hetherington.
- Home engagement: Students can practice independently at home without teacher prompting. “That’s one of the main benefits: the fact children are keen to complete work at home without me having to chase them.”
- Continuity: The same login follows students from Reception to Year 6, creating consistent access and familiarity throughout their learning journey.
Creating excitement around mathematics
Building on this practical foundation, Mathletics has helped create a culture of celebration through its high-profile status within the school:
“That’s one of the things we’re most proud of: the high profile Mathletics has in our school. The rewards, standing up in assembly, receiving certificates, parents being invited in… it’s all working really well!
What started as a tool for homework engagement has become an important part of the school’s culture through structured rewards and recognition:
- Individual accolades: Every Monday, the headteacher announces top scorers in assembly with children spelling out ‘G-O-L-D!’ to build excitement. Winners receive a special ‘Mathletics champion’ band and go first in the lunch line. Students also earn certificates, medals, trophies and badges for achieving milestones.
- Class rewards: The class with the most weekly points receives a trophy. This award, like the attendance trophy, encourages collective effort and friendly competition between classes.
- Community celebration: Achievements feature in school newsletters and Twitter feeds, giving families visibility of success and encouraging parent engagement with their children’s progress.
- Spontaneous engagement: This culture of celebration drives remarkable student motivation. Students proactively use the program at home, even during holidays, without prompting.
Mrs Hetherington recalls:
“One of our Year 3 boys came back after the holidays and ran up to the headteacher to say he’d earned his fourth gold, completely unprompted. Nobody told him ‘you need to go on Mathletics over the holidays’. He did it off his own back!”
Supporting every learner
Beyond motivation, Mathletics provides essential support for students with unique needs:
- Accessible features: For students with developing language skills, Mathletics’ audio instructions are particularly valuable. This feature ensures that a student’s maths ability is not “hindered by their reading ability,” making maths concepts accessible to all learners.
- Reinforcement and extension: Teachers can direct students to specific areas that need strengthening or allow confident learners to explore topics they enjoy, turning maths into a reward in itself.
- Seamless differentiation: The program allows teachers to tailor content by ability without students knowing they’re working at different levels. This discrete approach ensures that a Year 4 student, for example, can work on Year 2 content without feeling self-conscious.
Teacher efficiency and support
Mathletics also offers considerable benefits to teachers, making their jobs easier and more efficient:
- Time-saving resources: Mrs. Hetherington finds Mathletics’ ready-to-use content saves planning time, providing a go-to resource for focused learning or when lessons finish early: “Mathletics supports my teaching as a backup or extension. I don’t have to plan something new when I need 15 minutes of focused learning.” Immediate feedback and progress help teachers quickly identify students needing support or extension, reducing assessment workload.
- Effortless implementation: The program makes it easy to onboard new staff. “It quite easily looks after itself,” says Mrs Hetherington, requiring minimal teacher effort while children’s motivation “really just pushes it forward.”
- Reliable ongoing support: The school’s decade-long commitment to Mathletics demonstrates its proven value. Consistent performance means they rarely need customer support and any issues are resolved quickly.
Results: a legacy of maths engagement
After a decade-long partnership, New Pasture Lane demonstrates what happens when educational technology is thoughtfully integrated into school culture:
- Independent students who engage with maths without teacher prompting.
- Improved confidence as students revisit challenging topics on their own.
- Stronger foundations through self-paced progression and practice.
- Better consolidation with activities aligned to classroom learning.
Beyond academic gains, Mathletics has helped create a culture where students take ownership of their learning, teachers have a reliable time-saving tool, and families celebrate achievements together.
“Engagement has steeply increased and it’s still up there. We’d definitely recommend Mathletics!”
