VIEWS & OPINION
Lessons from lockdown: Cambridge Maths School will extend outreach and access
using remote technology Comment by CLARE HARGRAVES, Project and Curriculum Lead, Cambridge Maths School
Set for launch in 2023, the new Cambridge Maths School will bring an innovative new addition to the region’s education landscape. The specialist mathematics 6th form, a partnership school with the University of Cambridge, will serve the whole of the East Anglia with a pioneering approach to post-secondary provision, which focuses on building attainment in mathematics and linked disciplines. Through an enhanced mathematics curriculum, Cambridge Maths School students will be supported into accessing mathematics and mathematical sciences in higher education, while also benefitting from enrichment opportunities developed in partnership with the University of Cambridge. The school will also maintain strong industry links by working in partnership with key employers in the region to deliver careers advice and support, inspirational lectures and enrichment opportunities as well as work experience opportunities for the students. Although based in Cambridge, students will be welcomed from an extended catchment area across the East Anglia region, diversifying the
6th form provision in the region significantly. The intention is to broaden the reach of the school through an extensive outreach programme, where Cambridge Maths School teachers and industry partners will work together to engage with students and schools across the region, encouraging the consideration of a maths specialism in 6th form for any student with an interest and passion for the discipline. The experiences of continuing to educate students through lockdown using remote learning technologies has had a significant impact on plans for the school’s extensive outreach programme. Originally, the outreach programme was built around the idea of bringing groups of students into the school to experience some of the lectures, lessons and enrichment opportunities on offer, and that this would be supplemented by a regular programme of visitation by outreach workers and teachers from the school to secondary schools across the region to keep them informed about the opportunities on offer through the Cambridge Maths School. However, now we know how powerful remote learning can be as a tool for engaging students in mathematics, the school is planning to develop an extensive outreach programme which supports mathematics attainment and broadening the reach of promoting mathematics specialism throughout the region. By using remote technologies to increase accessibility to the outreach programme offers, such as taster lessons, enrichment opportunities, one-to-one mentoring sessions with industry and advisors, we will be able to build a broad and vibrant picture of what the Cambridge Maths School offers for potential students, with the benefit of being able to offer immediate feedback and consultation for interested students. As we look towards the future and the upcoming developments of the Cambridge Maths School, the team is continuing to develop exciting plans for the outreach programme, as strong bonds are forged between the school, key partners and local industry to create a truly exceptional offer for specialist mathematics provision.
“Catch up culture” would be a shameful failing Comment by KATY PARKINSON, founder of Lexonik
It saddens me to say this, but frankly, the recognition by the Prime Minister that we are now on the cusp of an ‘illiteracy surge’, came as absolutely no shock whatsoever. In fact, throughout this pandemic
year, I’ve been continually discussing with my Lexonik staff, and various schools and education colleagues across the country throughout the pandemic, my fervent belief that the gap in reading and vocabulary skills for disadvantaged children heading into year 7 will be worse than ever. And yet, that alone isn’t the
worst part. The greatest tragedy is that many of us who have been at the coalface
of education and literacy attainment for some years, have long recognised that the system needed to change – and yet nothing has. We have been talking about these issues in some form or other for so
long now, and it’s a well established fact that children living in "persistent poverty" are at a significant disadvantage for educational and academic progress. What we absolutely cannot do is to view this as merely ‘covid catch-up’.
It would miss the point. It would be a shameful failing by the government to dismiss the problem in this way. I’d been a teacher for 25 years by the time I created Lexonik, and that
May 2021
was born out of a frustration in how literacy and vocabulary cognition was being understood. Why has it taken all this time to see that children need help in learning
the methodology behind a literacy skill, rather than simply driving a child to a particular answer? And, will this latest headline-grabber be anything more than rhetoric? Key to sustainable change, is how we deliver to children, and how
teachers are taught to impart their literacy insight. While I applaud every teacher and parent who has done such incredible
work over this last year, and while I am pleased that such recognition of online learning has been achieved over the course of the pandemic, I also know without any shadow of a doubt that children thrive with face to face teaching. Literacy development is not just about structure taught via a screen, but
about the nuances of expert questioning and oral reasoning, which come when a student is face to face with a skilled teacher. I cannot deny being deeply concerned about how Year 6 pupils will
adjust when they enter Year 7. I simply do not think they will be fully prepared for the secondary
curriculum, because of the halting in literacy progress which has been felt in the last 12 months. And while this issue has widened the gap for those disadvantaged
youngsters, we have to also acknowledge that for the first time we may see less disadvantaged children bear the brunt too. In cases where two parents have been busy trying to work throughout
the year, and where home-schooling has presented time and resource challenges, we’ll see a notable lack of progression. I stand hopeful that this recent exposure on the literacy issue will
prompt significant change, but without action and committed support for all of our education professionals, I fear we may continue to have these conversations for many years to come.
www.education-today.co.uk 21
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