Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps his Department has taken to increase the level of numeracy in Nottinghamshire.

The Department is investing to improve Mathematics education from early years through to age 18, so that young people have the right skills for employment, further education and everyday life.

In early years, the Department is investing £20 million in the Professional Development Programme. This will provide training on language, literacy and numeracy education for pre-reception early years staff in disadvantaged areas, including around 45 settings in Nottinghamshire.

Since 2014, the Department has funded a network of 35 Maths Hubs across England, including two lead schools in Nottinghamshire (George Spencer Academy and Minster School). The Hubs have sought to improve Mathematics teaching from early years through to post-16. Maths Hubs deliver the £76 million Teaching for Mastery programme, which adapts Mathematics pedagogy from top performing east-Asian jurisdictions to English schools. The programme is funded to reach a total of 11,000 primary and secondary schools across England by 2022. This includes establishing a Mastery Readiness Pogramme for schools in greatest need.

To further support the transition between primary and secondary school, schools in Nottinghamshire have also received approximately £1.1 million in additional funding to raise levels of literacy and numeracy of Year 7 pupils. Students on a 16 to 18 study programme who have yet to achieve a GCSE grade 4 or above in Mathematics are required to continue to study the subject.

The Department is funding the £16 million Advanced Mathematics Support Programme to improve and increase provision of, and participation in, AS and A level Mathematics, further Mathematics, and level 3 core Mathematics qualifications, through a range of support to help schools and colleges improve advanced Mathematics teaching.

In 2018, 77% of pupils in Nottinghamshire local authority met the expected standard for Mathematics at Key Stage 2, which is 1% higher than the England average and up from 70% in 2016 when new tests were introduced.

At GCSE level, 71.8% of Nottinghamshire local authority’s pupils achieved a grade 9 to 4 at GCSE Mathematics in 2018, which is slightly higher than the figure for 2017. 75.3% of 19 year olds held a GCSE 9 to 4 or other level 2 qualification in 2018, compared to the national average of 75.6%. 23% of academic students took Mathematics A level at the end of Key Stage 5.