GIFHE chosen to become an innovative Centre for Maths Excellence

We are delighted to announce we have been chosen as one of only 21 colleges in England to establish a new ‘Centre for Maths Excellence’ (C4ME).

This is a pioneering project brought about in response to Sir Adrian Smith’s review of post-16 maths education, which recommended improving GCSE maths re-sits for young people over the age of 16.

Emma Bell, GIFHE Maths Enhancement Manager and C4ME lead, said: “At GIFHE we aim to take a fresh look at maths education in the post-16 sector to help our learners achieve their very best in an inspirational environment. Maths can be a challenging topic for many young people but we aspire to help all our learners enjoy maths, overcome their barriers to success and develop the skills to thrive in work and life.”

Speaking at the Conservative Party conference in October, Education Secretary Damian Hinds said many schools and colleges now excelled at teaching maths and English. “However, there is more to do,” he said, explaining that the new Centres for Excellence would “test and share new ways to teach students who are re-sitting their maths GCSE”.

GIFHE will be collaborating with other exceptional post-16 providers, universities and exam boards on this exciting journey with the aim of sharing outstanding practice and improving maths education nationwide.

The C4ME team at GIFHE have already begun to implement some project goals and, over the coming months, will be carrying out research and experimenting with new ideas, working towards the very best teaching and learning.

Principal Debra Gray said: “As an award-winning, outstanding college, we are proud to have been selected for this prestigious Centre for Maths Excellence. We believe in exploring new ideas to remove the fear of maths many people have and spark their interest and imagination in learning.”