After a competitive bidding process, Cornwall Teaching School, a partnership led by Truro and Penwith College, has been awarded £486,000 by the Department for Education (DfE) to improve the progress of primary and secondary school students in mathematics across the region.

Truro and Penwith College, which already leads the Cornwall and West Devon Maths Hub to support mathematics teaching, will now extend the scope of its partnership work.

The funding from the DfE’s Strategic School Improvement Fund will help the college and its teaching school partners to focus on nearly 40 primary and secondary schools across Cornwall, seeking to raise their levels of progress in mathematics. Over 100 teachers will be included, working with over 2,000 pupils.

A key focus of the funding will raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils through the deployment of specialist staff, many of whom already work with the maths hub, to lead locally-based groups of schools in sharing their experience of successful intervention strategies.

Andy Stittle, director for teaching and learning at Truro and Penwith College, said: “This is an excellent opportunity to further extend the successful work and partnerships of the college's teaching school and its mathematics hub in sharing proven strategies and in developing new approaches by working with an additional forty primary and secondary schools.”

Jenny Blunden, CEO of the Truro and Penwith Academy Trust, who will be working closely with this initiative, added: "Securing funding to improve pupil outcomes in mathematics is crucial for schools in Cornwall. This is an exciting opportunity to develop cross-phase teacher research groups to focus on leading good teaching and learning for a positive impact on pupils and where support can really make a difference."