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and systems of your curriculum and how play-based learning will fit into these. Often, assessment is viewed as a barrier to curriculum development. High-stakes accountability and external pressures can erode practitioners’ confidence. Therefore, your assessment system and policies must support the play-based approach you have adopted. By addressing the expectations and explaining how the assessment will complement, rather than hinder, teachers will hopefully feel less anxious about fitting play into previous assessment systems. If your staff members lack experience in integrating play and assessment, it is crucial to plan for long-term training to help build their expertise and confidence in these new methods. As the school leader, you should also be ready to discuss the assessment policy with governors or trustees, who may be familiar with more traditional assessment methods. By aligning assessment with your play-based approach, you can ensure that play is an integral part of the curriculum delivery cycle, rather than an additional task. Curriculum development is a gradual process, and the strategy for introducing play must be considered on a long-term basis. Play it your way The national curriculum is often cited as a barrier to implementing a creative curriculum approach such as play. However, the method of delivering the curriculum content is ultimately up to individual schools. If you believe a play-based approach is right for your school, take the time to understand why and plan accordingly. Here are some questions upon which to reflect: • Why is play the most beneficial way to enhance your curriculum? • Is this the right moment to undertake curriculum development work? Do you have the necessary capacity? • Can you prioritise training and professional development around play for all your staff? If you can confidently address these questions, then be bold and embrace the wonderful world of play! For more information on Rethinking Curriculum, and to access a free evaluation tool and play resources, visit chartered.college/ rethinkingcurriculum Jenna Crittenden is an experienced Early Years and primary teacher and leader of 17 years. She is now curriculum design lead at The Chartered College of Teaching, leading on Rethinking Curriculum. I have often been asked,‘How can play have anything to do with mathematics?’. We usually consider maths as more of a ‘serious’ subject, but for mathematicians, play is necessary for creative problem solving; exploring ‘what might happen if…’. Many mathematical strategies are already present in children’s play, and it is important for us to nurture these strategies from the outset. For example: • Exploring and imagining • Expressing • Classifying • Specialising and formalising • Organising and modelling • Predicting and conjecturing • Convincing • Reflecting • Generalising • Extending Play is intrinsically motivating, too; it is memorable and mindful. We can use playfulness to make maths much more notable for the children we work with, and to provide a space where pupils can build on their prior, often taught, experiences. Providing even occasional time for playing with some taught mathematics is important for children of any age, allowing time to make sense of what they are being taught, make connections with other learning, raise questions, and for us to assess their understanding, confidence and interests. For example, we might provide time for pairs to make rectangles with interlocking cubes to further explore multiplication, or ask younger children to make a set of 0-15 cards to use for later teaching. How we think of ourselves in relation to a subject fundamentally influences how well we learn (Dowker et al 2019; Dweck 1999; Sfard & Prusak 2005). Being playful is the opposite of being put on the spot or ‘wrong’, and so it can help us build the fearless classrooms necessary to nurture confident mathematicians with a positive view of the subject (Obersteiner, 2018). Dr Helen J Williams is an independent educational consultant specialising in maths, and author of Playful Mathematics for Children 3 to 7 (£21.99, SAGE). Memorable mathematics L E ADERSH I P www.teachwire.net | 39 @helenjwc @CharteredColl