A* to C grades are expected to improve by around 15% this year.

A* to C grades are expected to improve by around 15% this year.

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“Maths students this year have blown our minds with their focus, attitude and hard work.  They are conscientious, and care about their results which is good to see, and they’ve been a pleasure to teach,” says Shaun Donald, Head of Maths. 

A* to C grades in Maths are expected to improve by around 15% this year with achievement above the national average in 3 levels of progress, according to Shaun Donald, Head of Maths.

This builds on an improvement of 16% in A* to C grades last year and follows a big focus on teaching and learning, finding out what individual students need to know, and targeting teaching accordingly.

With an emphasis on developing the best strategies for teaching specific topics, Shaun visited Singapore in February which is the highest performing country in Maths in the world, and said, “I wanted to learn from their strategies for teaching Maths and the key thing is ‘mastery’ and knowing a topic fully in-depth and understanding all the key terminology.  Every student needs to understand every bit of a subject before you move on.”

There has also been a focus on marking and feedback, ensuring every students understands their strengths and weaknesses and what they need to do to improve. Shaun said, “It’s important to remember that no one is bad at Maths and with hard work everyone can succeed. We do frequent assessments so that students can see themselves improve quickly and success is its own motivator.

“Students realise that staff go the extra mile and that helps to motivate students.  I had an additional tutor group this year just for Maths at lunchtime and afterschool, and we also ran sessions on Saturdays for Year 11 students.

“The key thing in Maths is to come with an open mind, lots of resilience and don’t have a negative opinion.  Just because you may have struggled in the past with Maths, doesn’t mean you will in the future.  Even when dealing with difficult problems, give it a go and don’t give up.”

Speaking about why he loves the subject, Shaun added, “I think Maths is a beautiful subject that appears in so many places in life and nature, and it’s our way of exploring and understanding the universe.  Also we know how important it is to a student to get a good grade in Maths and the number of doors that open with good grades, and equally don’t open if you don’t get a good grade.

“Maths is actually cool. If students try hard, trust us, and do what we tell them, there is no reason why they shouldn’t do well.”