An all-boys school has boosted its maths GCSE results by knocking down a wall between classrooms and teaching two classes as one.
John Atkins, the head teacher of Kemnal Technology College, Sidcup, southeast London, has found that class sizes of up to 75 pupils produce higher grades, contrary to the prevailing belief that small class sizes produce better academic results, Mr Atkins, who introduced double-class teaching four years ago in response to a shortage of maths teachers, is so pleased with the results that he has converted a second classroom to accommodate supersize classes.
“A maths teacher left, so over the weekend I converted a room into a double classroom to take two classes at the same time,” he said. “I got in an excellent