Case study: HegartyMaths
Building a platform for students to succeed in maths
Before meeting SHINE we only had the seed of an idea. They gave us the confidence and backing to try something out while living our busy school lives. The huge impact we’ve now achieved would never have been possible without their financial and moral support.
The big idea
To create an online platform where every student can get world-class maths support. This boosts their achievement, while saving teachers’ time.
Why it’s needed
When Colin Hegarty applied for Let Teachers SHINE funding in 2012, he was a maths teacher in North West London who had uploaded a few videos to YouTube.
One of his students had left the country to care for a sick relative. So rather than them missing out on learning, Colin started filming his lessons on a smartphone. After a few weeks Colin noticed it wasn’t just his student watching the video on YouTube. It seemed others wanted to get great maths teaching online.
How it works
Colin’s application to SHINE stood out right from the beginning. Though the idea was in its early stages Colin and his co-founder, Brian Arnold, had the ambition and vision to make it a reality.
So we invested in Colin with a year-long grant to test the idea in his school. When it was a success we fully funded a sabbatical for both of them.
The impact
- HegartyMaths is now used by 336 schools in the North of England, including all the schools in the biggest Northern Multi Academy Trusts.
- 640, 508 students in the UK have accessed 3.5 million hours of learning in the last year. Around 28% are from disadvantaged backgrounds.
- An evaluation in six Camden schools showed “very strong positive correlations” between using HegartyMaths and SATs results for disadvantaged children.