Case Study
Boosting collaboration with Sumdog
With schools across Nottingham, Sheffield, Lincoln and Leicester and, as a relatively large trust, L.E.A.D. is keenly aware of the need for connection and collaboration. When the Trust first got in touch with Sumdog, they did so with the hope of generating some excitement about maths and to ‘provide the children with a way to connect [across] Trust schools’.
The Trust had also been looking for an effective way to bring colleagues across regions and schools together and were interested in how Sumdog could facilitate teacher collaboration too.
Building a connected network
At the start of the school year, Sumdog joined the L.E.A.D. maths meeting to explain the nature of the trust-wide contest and understand expectations for each school. The meeting was broken down into two sessions to encourage debate and to ensure there was enough time for everyone to contribute their thoughts and questions. Each maths lead was provided with resources to support their school before, during and after the contest. This helped to strengthen the network across all 22 schools, and led to some fantastic results.
’Introducing Sumdog through our maths leads meetings means that you’ve got your teachers from Sheffield in the same meeting as the teachers from Lincoln and from Nottingham, so it’s really powerful that the teachers can see it’s not just them, it’s the whole trust working together. From the children’s point of view, during the contest, they can look at the leaderboard and spot the other schools that they know of - but they also get the chance to see the schools that they’d never come into contact with. It’s made the children more aware that they are part of a bigger picture… it’s been powerful for them to feel like they belong to something more than just their own school.’
Cat Stone
Primary Lead Practitioner for Maths, L.E.A.D. Academy Trust
About L.E.A.D Academy Trust
L.E.A.D Academy Trust is made up of 22 primary schools across the East Midlands with 50% of pupils eligble for Pupil Premium funding. They have been using Sumdog since 2022.
The results:
Teachers onboarded within 1 month
Fully supported onboarding and easy to get started for all staff.
Maths questions answered during the contest
Worked together across the trust
"L.E.A.D. understand the importance of collaboration, so it was really important to encourage debate and incorporate different ideas of what the contest could be for them."
Euan Kennedy
Sumdog Growth Manager