Dear Families,
I enjoy setting puzzles for my students and will sometimes write one on the board for them to think about over the course of a day before we discuss it later in the day. I offer the puzzle below to you as an example (or a challenge if you would like to email me your answer.):
What four-digit number reverses itself when multiplied by 4? As in, what are the digits a, b, c and d such that the number abcd x 4 = dcba?
(In this problem, the letters a, b, c and d all stand for different digits.)
Of course, all our dedicated Sri KDU teachers deserve lots of praise but, today, I would like to pay tribute to Mr. Delahaye, our primary school maths lead, who is always a passionate proponent of mathematics. I always enjoy discussing maths in the school with Mr. Delahaye and seeing how much he enjoys seeing the students across the primary school getting pleasure from - and making progress in - their maths learning.
This week, I was lucky enough to be able to catch some of his well-attended parent workshop on the subject and it was a great pleasure to see parents discussing their own experiences of maths at school and with their children. It is always interesting when adults talk about maths how quickly the conversation turns to whether they liked the subject when they were younger or how good they were at maths at school. One of the easiest traps to fall into as a parent is to say that we didn’t enjoy or were not good at a subject at school and for our children to think that this means they should be the same as us. Fortunately, that isn’t how things work. The other trap we fall into is thinking that the method that we were taught at school is the ‘right’ one when, in fact, there are often many ways to get the correct answer. It can be challenging to learn ways of calculating that are new to us or to refrain from telling children that the method we use is the best way.
If we look at it from a growth mindset perspective, a better way to consider our maths (or any) troubles might be to ask how we can get better at something or how many ways can we find to get the answer. Growth mindset research will point us towards breaking things down into smaller steps which allows our brains to make connections with prior learning. This can be a good way to help to build confidence with your children in their learning. Our recent pupil voice survey for maths showed us that our primary school students are largely happy in maths classes and feel that they are learning, building confidence, and making progress in their maths lessons so I am sure Mr. Delahaye will be pleased.
Although I was a reluctant mathematician as a student, I have found myself appreciating the subject more and more as my teaching career has developed. I also see the growing sense of importance of maths in relation to coding, engineering, science and am excited about our growing commitment to STEAM learning across the primary school. Thanks to passionate and hard-working practitioners like our classroom teachers and the tireless Mr. Delahaye, I know that the future of maths provision for our students is in safe hands.
On another note, Ramadan is coming soon and our Year Leaders and Heads of Year will be communicating school arrangements on Ramadan protocols in the next week.
On behalf of all at Sri KDU Subang Jaya, I would like to wish you a wonderful week ahead.
Simon Greenhalgh,
Deputy Head of Primary School
We visited numerous international schools in Klang-Valley and Sri KDU Subang Jaya was not even on our list. Reason being it is way out of our travelling radius. However, we are glad we made the visit to the school before our final call, and it was the best decision ever! It was a huge transition period for us during the first 2 weeks into school, but the school’s team (Teachers, Administrative and Parent’s Teacher Association) made us feel right at home. We were given clear guidance and was kept well informed on the happenings in the school. My daughter blended into the community quite well with the care provided by the Homeroom teacher. All the teachers here are the kindest, as she told me. She looks forward to going to school and has become more disciplined in terms on knowing what tasks she needs to complete daily. She has gained so much confidence during this short period of time and was given the encouragement to explore and develop her abilities here. She was just selected as the new Primary House Captain for Year 6 AY2022/2023.
Every parent want to find the ‘perfect’ school for their child and are afraid of making the wrong decision. For us, as long she is safe and happy, we believe, she will eventually find the way to her own success.