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Teachers can use all the bells and whistles they like in the classroom, says Knox Grammar’s acting head of maths Ian Bradford, but running a lesson is hard work without one key skill.

“When you’re teaching a class, you are in performance mode,” Bradford explains. “People go into the teaching profession and the general narrative is that it is about knowledge, about being a nerd at maths or English – it’s not.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re a teacher in 2023 or a teacher in 1993, if you’re in a position to connect with people, you will engage them.”

This year private all-boys school Knox Grammar on the upper north shore outperformed James Ruse Agricultural High School in the Herald’s league table of HSC maths results, placing third in the state in the advanced and extension courses. Of the students enrolled in the subject at Knox, 77 per cent of students achieved a mark of 90 per cent or above. The school is ranked 11th in the state overall in the HSC.

At Knox, the hundreds of students entering year 7 come from dozens of different primary schools and have varying levels of maths ability. Bradford says top grades in the HSC can be traced back to the start of high school.

“It might come off a little clichéd, but we do try and do the best for every boy that we can,” Bradford says.

Knox College Year 12 students Harry Cumming, Beau Morrison and Ethan Huang discuss HSC maths results with teacher Ian Bradford.Credit: Ben Symons

That begins with the school’s teachers helping its 3000 students find their passion (even if it isn’t maths) so they have a reason to be enthusiastic about attending lessons each day.

“It is damn obvious when you’re a school teacher. Students are intuitive; they can sniff out very quickly if the person in front of them doesn’t want to be there. Students can be harsh critics, but they can also be super supportive,” Bradford said.

Graduating student Beau Morrison, 18, arrived at the school in year 8 and said there was a strong study culture at the school, which boosted his intrinsic motivation to do well. “I got pushed harder here than my other school,” he said.

By the time he was in year 12, his teacher told his class that they would achieve above 90 per cent in the final exam. “We wanted to believe him, we trusted him and the resources he gave us, and it worked out,” he said.

Another student, Harry Cumming, 18, said advanced maths was the most difficult subject for him in the HSC. “For someone like me in maths, it turned out to be the subject I was most proud of because I was able to work with other students, the staff after school hours and get help whenever I wanted it,” he said.

Of the top 10 performing schools in HSC mathematics, five were selective public high schools while the remainder were private schools. Al Noori Muslim School was the top performer in the standard mathematics course followed by Reddam House.

Among the higher-level courses, Al Noori placed behind Al-Faisal College in Sydney’s west, which ranked first, followed by selective school North Sydney Boys. Balgowlah Boys was the top-ranked non-selective public school in maths while De La Salle College, Revesby Heights, was the top systemic Catholic school.

Al-Faisal’s head of maths, Mohamad Jamal, said staff tried to get students to realise early on that maths isn’t a subject that can be crammed. “It requires skills that develop and are honed over time. I always use the analogy of running a marathon; you cannot expect to run the race on Monday after a single weekend of training, true preparation requires dedicated effort,” he said.

Menai High year 12 students Connor Doran, Savannah Archer, Ethan Butcher, Amelia Domro, Lachlan Cameron, Amber Soo, Brieanna Yardley and Joshua Walters.Credit: Ben Symons

At comprehensive state school Menai High, the advanced and extension maths success rates are up from 10 per cent in 2019 to 25 per cent this year.

“We have been encouraging kids into the more challenging advanced and extension courses,” says deputy principal Luke Meagher.

“With our male students they tend to opt down when choosing which maths course to study, so we are pushing them to take the more difficult option,” he says. “Especially for students in years 9 and 10.”

Head of maths at Menai High, Nicola Vickery, who has been in the role since 2011, says that by year 12 students have access to an online forum where they can ask teachers and other students about problems they are stuck on.

“The area students dislike the most is algebra, but we try to push them to realise the benefit of the topics that they may not love.”

Meagher said: “Maths is the golden child this year. So much of it is down to our incredibly driven teachers, who are always providing feedback and responding to questions in and out of class time”.

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