Welcome to Episode 14 of the Primary Maths Podcast. This week we’re joined by Lewis Horsley, who somehow manages to juggle teaching Year 2, leading maths and KS1, sitting on SLT, supporting ITT students, being a Primary Mastery Specialist with the East Midlands West Maths Hub, and facilitating the NPQLPM course… all while also completing his NPQH.

Lewis sat down with us to talk about the joys and challenges of teaching and leading maths in primary school. We cover:

• What makes maths lessons engaging for both pupils and teachers
• Why a noisy classroom can actually be a productive one and how purposeful talk builds mathematical thinking
• How collaborative planning can transform professional development for teachers, and Lewis’ top tips for making a session truly effective
• The importance of doing the maths yourself first and how it helps uncover misconceptions before pupils face them
• The four golden questions Lewis always comes back to when planning lessons (and why they work for every subject, not just maths)

We also get into why pupils need to hear that getting things wrong is not only inevitable but essential, how to avoid staff meetings where everyone is laminating instead of listening, and why “accidental teaching” is sometimes the most powerful kind.

Lewis has started sharing his thinking in a new blog series called Plan Maths, hosted by Derby Research School. You can find the first instalment here: Plan Maths – Derby Research School. Keep an eye out for part two coming soon.

As always, Becky and I unpack the key takeaways in our debrief after the interview. From purposeful talk to remembering the value of doing the maths yourself, there’s plenty here to spark reflection and maybe even change what you do in class tomorrow.

If you enjoy the show, don’t forget to follow or subscribe on your podcast app of choice, and share it with a colleague who loves (or maybe needs to love) maths as much as we do. You can also leave us a rating or a review — it really helps others to find the show.

And finally, we’d love to hear from you. What are your favourite non-standard units of measurement in everyday life? Drop us a message at primarymathspodcast@twinkl.co.uk or in the YouTube comments.

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In this episode of the Primary Maths Podcast, Jon and Becky are joined by a special guest to help tackle one of the perennial challenges in maths education: the transition from primary to secondary. Why does it so often feel like pupils are treading water in Year 7, revisiting content they’ve already covered? And how can schools work together to make that move a smoother, more purposeful step forward?

Jon is joined by his Twinkl colleague Pete Mattock: teacher, leader, prolific speaker, and author of Visible Maths, Conceptual Maths, and Leading Maths. As National Education Lead for Secondary Maths, Pete brings the secondary perspective on why the step into Key Stage 3 can be such a tricky one, and what practical steps could help bridge the gap.

We discuss:

• Why Year 7 often feels like a reset button and whether that’s always necessary
• The role of baseline tests, schemes of work, and different representations in fuelling the sense of “starting again”
• What stronger collaboration between primary and secondary teachers could look like in practice
• Why information should flow both ways between schools
• How the Key Stage 2 curriculum might need “thinning out” to ensure depth over coverage

As ever, Jon and Becky also bring you a Maths of Life detour: this time exploring the bizarre history of BBC maths sitcoms (yes, really), and imagining what a 2020s revival might look like, with a possible cameo for Carol Vorderman…

Whether you’re a Year 6 teacher preparing pupils for the big step, a subject leader writing action plans, or a secondary colleague wondering how best to build on Key Stage 2, this episode is packed with insights, challenges, and ideas to take forward.

To get in touch, contact us at primarymathspodcast@twinkl.co.uk

In the final episode of our summer specials, Jon and Becky wrap up the holidays with a mix of puzzles, pop culture, and polygon talk.

Becky recounts her weekend at the Rubik’s Cube UK Championship, where maths hides in everything from official timing rules to the mysterious “God’s Number.” Jon takes us from the beach (counting grains of sand!) to the history of charity singles, comparing Band Aid’s millions in the 1980s with LadBaby’s record-breaking - yet surprisingly modest - fundraising totals.

We also launch a brand-new feature: Ety-math-ology. Becky digs into the origins of shape names like polygon, rhombus, and diamond, uncovering some surprising stories about the language of geometry and how it can trip us up in the classroom.

It’s been a fun run of summer specials, but from next week the Primary Maths Podcast returns to its usual format: interviews with experts in maths education. Don’t forget to subscribe and share the podcast with a colleague as the new term begins.

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