He will be focusing on providing support to colleagues across our secondary schools and is committed to making sure that students get ‘a good deal’ no matter which school or classroom they are in. He will liaise with colleagues at school and Trust level and will work closely with our Primary Director of Maths to ensure students have a smooth transition to secondary maths concepts.

Ben, who was appointed during lockdown, said: ‘There are so many opportunities to make life better, easier, more efficient for our schools so that is a really exciting part of the job. Each school is very different so we do not plan to impose a single way of working on each Mathematics department. We have to play to their individual strengths and share best practice.’

He has worked his way through the ranks at Brooke Weston Academy, having attended the school, training there as a teacher in 2013 before working his way up to Head of Maths. He has already collaborated closely with the majority of our Heads of Maths and is looking forward to working with them, both individually and as a team.

He said: ‘It is really exciting for me to get out and experience different schools and other ways of doing things and is an opportunity to develop my understanding of maths in different contexts. I understand many of the pressures on Heads of Departments so I hope to be very supportive and encouraging of both them and their teams.

‘I love working with teachers who want to develop their skillset and I am particularly looking forward to this aspect of the role. I already have a good working relationship with the Heads of Maths and am looking forward to developing that more over the coming years, particularly in face to face meetings rather than online.  It has been extremely pleasing that there is already lots of cross Trust collaboration starting to happen in maths with virtual competitions and sharing of useful resources and experiences during lockdown.

‘I am really thrilled to have been given the role and am looking forward to making the most of the opportunities and potential that it offers.

‘Maths is beautiful and one of the key skills for life. It explains essentially how the world works. Although it is important to get the skills right, the applications and its wider context are everywhere. My role is to ensure that in every maths classroom and across every school our students are getting a good deal.’