When Year 7 went off to University for a Maths Lesson

22 March 2023

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Assistant Head of Maths Mr Henshaw delivered a lesson at the prestigious Lancaster University School of Mathematics (LUSoM) to Priory’s Year 7s which earned glowing reviews.

Mr Henshaw was appointed as the Assistant Maths Hub Lead for Abacus North West, one of 40 maths hubs around the UK, in September which works alongside his role at Priory.

The Hub seeks to harness all maths leadership and expertise within an area, to develop and spread excellent practice, for the benefit of all. One way to do this was for Abacus North West, which includes primary, secondary and college local leaders of maths education (LLME), to work together to produce a lesson, the first exploring algebraic expressions, which would be delivered at LUSoM.

“The hub is all about the schools in the area working together, in collaboration, to raise the standards of maths across the board,” said Mr Henshaw.

“The idea was for us all to plan a lesson on algebra tiles and a lot of work went into it beforehand to make sure it was the best it could be.

“We planned it, then improved it and I taught it in one of my classes watched by 10 teachers from local schools then we got together again and improved it even more.

“Then we took my Year 7 class to LUSoM, it was a military operation doing that!

"They loved being in a further education setting and felt very proud that they were the first group to have done this and experience the fantastic facilities at LUSoM.

“The lesson was watched by local leaders of maths education and there was pressure but it was a collective effort from Abacus North West and the aim was, not to find faults, but to look at ways of making the lesson even better.

“It was lovely to get positive comments in a Question and Answer session afterwards and the aim now is to continue refining the Key Stage 3 scheme of work and best practise.”