Calls for more support for London’s maths students

A leading head teacher has called for greater support for the brightest maths students in London schools.

Dan Abramson, head teacher of the state-funded King’s Maths School, believes that mathematics is becoming ‘increasingly important’ in the modern world with the increasing significance of data to businesses meaning quantitate skills are vital.

Speaking to the Evening Standard, he said: “That’s what business is saying, but not just business, it’s broader than that… Mathematics is applied so broadly now that in our economy, having highly skilled mathematicians would have a significant impact.

He added: “There’s thousands of students in London who need to know maths and need to have a level of numeracy and understanding about that sort of reductive thinking.”

Abramson, whose has a specialist focus on maths and maths related subjects, believes students in the capital are not receiving sufficient support to achieve in the subject.

While London schools typically outperforms the ret of the UK, the proportion of students achieving Maths A-levels at A*-B is around 56 per cent, compared to the national average of 63 per cent.