Bar model INSET day for primary schools
A bar model INSET day in your building, with your whole staff.
Our bar model INSET day trains every teacher and TA in your school in one day, working on the same concrete, pictorial, abstract method alongside the scheme you already use — with the membership included free for the year so nobody has to remember it alone.
Every teacher and TA you employ, in one day
EYFS, KS1 and KS2 strands, not one generic session
Works with your scheme, modelled in your classrooms with your children
No supply cover for a twilight, no staggered cohorts
Whole-school bar model INSET day
1,299
a daywhole school
Not per teacher, not per key stage.One day, one invoice.
- ✓The whole-school membership, free for the year — worth £399
- ✓The animated pack and worksheets for every year group
- ✓All recorded INSETs, for anyone who misses the day
- ✓The EYFS Ten Frames Course online, for the whole team
Travel included for mainland UK.
What the day looks like
It isn't a lecture.Your staff do the maths.
On a bar model INSET day, teachers spend most of the time working problems themselves, because that is the only way the method survives contact with a real class.You set the focus beforehand.
Before
A twenty-minute call
We agree what the day is actually for — the year groups you are worried about, the topic that keeps going wrong, whether your TAs are joining.No two days run the same.
Morning
Why a bar, and where it starts
Whole staff together, with manipulatives in hand and the CPA approach as the thread. The same problem shown four ways, and what changes for a child when the picture comes before the number sentence.
Mid-morning
Split into strands
EYFS and KS1 in one room, KS2 in another. Ten frames and part-part-whole on one side; comparison, fractions and ratio on the other.
Afternoon
In your classrooms, with your children
Modelled live rather than described. Staff watch the questioning, then take a group themselves while there is still someone in the room to ask.
Late
Maths lead session
What to look for in books next half term, what to put in the staff meeting after this one, and how to bring September's new starters up to the same place.
After
The library goes live
Every teacher on your staff list gets the membership that afternoon.The day is where it starts, not where it ends.
Timings are indicative — the shape of the day is agreed on the call beforehand.
Three strands
EYFS is nota smaller version of KS2.
The day splits into EYFS, KS1 and KS2 strands, so each team works on examples that fit its children. Most whole-school maths CPD trains everyone on the same examples and hopes the EYFS team can translate.We split the day instead.
Strand one
EYFS
Before any bar gets drawn: ten frames, subitising, and the language that makes the bar obvious later.
- Ten frames and part-part-whole
- Games that need no printing
- Comparing without counting
Strand two
Key Stage 1
The first real bars. Where children get stuck, and the questions that unstick them without giving the answer away.
- Part-part-whole to the drawn bar
- Addition and subtraction structures
- Comparison and difference
Strand three
Key Stage 2
Where the bar earns its keep — the multi-step word problems that look impossible until they are drawn.
- Fractions of an amount
- Ratio without the rules
- Multi-step reasoning problems
What schools said afterwards
122 feedback forms.Filled in at the end of the day.
Teachers completed these forms on paper at the end of our in-school training days, mostly during a year-long contract with 13 Leicester primary schools (December 2016 to November 2017).
84%
rated the training Excellent (2016–17)
96%
said it met expectations
3.82/4
average across four ratings
122
forms, face to face
★★★★★
It was very engaging and challenging. It really made you think about our teaching approach to mathematical concepts. All staff were engaged — teaching and support staff.You knew straight away that the training would have a big impact on pupil progress.
Kate CrawfordHeadteacher, Milford on Sea Primary
★★★★★
A lot was covered, giving us a very good grounding in the underlying principles of bar modelling.Inspirational in terms of practical ideas, modelled questioning and use of resources.
Alison TimmingsHeadteacher, William Gilpin Primary School
★★★★★
It was great to see how engaged the staff were — talk was focussed on maths and there were many light bulb moments and peer-on-peer explanations too.I also quite liked that ‘I got it’ in front of my colleagues.
Sandra VoiseyHeadteacher, Laurel Lane Primary
Our clients
Schools and organisationswe’ve supported.
A few of the schools and organisations we have trained, consulted for, or built resources, teacher guides and videos with.
Get a date inbefore the diary fills.
£1,299 for the day, whole staff, with the membership included free for the year. Tell us the term you are aiming at and we will tell you what is left.
Prefer to talk first? A twenty-minute call, no pitch — we will tell you if a day is the wrong thing for your school.