When students become the teachers: The story of AdMaths

On Thursday evenings at Aiglon College, two classrooms in the mathematics department take on a different kind of energy. Students spread out across tables, working through problems with older peers rather than teachers. In a third classroom nearby, a maths support session runs in parallel. The whole floor, as Head of Maths Dr Rona Watson puts it, has "a real buzz about it."

This is AdMaths - Aiglon's Additional Mathematics programme - and it has been growing steadily for three years.

What is AdMaths?

AdMaths is an additional IGCSE qualification offered by Cambridge International Examinations that falls outside the standard curriculum. Since the course is not part of the regular timetable, the mathematics department found a different solution. Older students from Years 12 and 13 teach and mentor younger students in Years 10 and 11, who then have the option to take the formal examinations when they feel ready.

The voluntary exam consists of two papers (both with and without calculators) taken during the standard IGCSE exam period. 

"It's something we brought in that has been quite unique," says Dr Rona Watson. "I don't think there's another course at Aiglon where older students teach younger students and where those younger students can go on to gain a formal qualification from it."

The programme started with just two student-teachers. It now involves six from Year 12 and draws between 10 and 15  students from Years 10 and 11 each week. This is the third cohort to come through, and expectations for the next exam sitting are the highest yet.

Bridging a significant gap

Part of the momentum behind AdMaths comes from its place in the mathematics journey at the school. Students begin the bespoke Discovery curriculum in Years 7 to 9, continue  through IGCSE in Years 10 and 11, and into the IB Diploma. For those going on to take a demanding higher mathematics course the leap from IGCSE can be considerable.

Enter AdMaths. "The jump to IB Higher Level can be really quite significant," says Megan Cumberlidge, Deputy Head of Maths and programme lead this year. "AdMaths gives students a real foundation, introducing concepts like differentiation and integration that they would not encounter otherwise at this stage."

Sereyroat, a Year 11 preparing for the IB, found the course expanded her sense of what mathematics could involve during her earlier years as a student. "Having the older students talk us through the harder problems was genuinely invaluable," she says. "Working through maths together is, honestly, my ideal way of spending time."

Learning by Teaching

For the student-teachers, the experience has proved as formative as it has been for those they teach.

JiaoJiao, a Year 12 student who now leads sessions from the front of the room, first encountered AdMaths as a younger student, largely self-taught the curriculum, and then returned to pass on what she had learned. "Teaching it has given me something I didn't expect," she says. "When you help a younger student find their way into a problem and see the moment it clicks, that's its own kind of reward."

Sereyroat has a direct message for anyone who has decided they are simply not a maths person. "Everyone's level of understanding is different," she says. "Once you understand one step, you can apply it to every problem. Practise, find enjoyment in it, and take it at your own pace."

Competition and the Wider Programme

The department enters students across all year groups into the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust competition series each year, attends Maths Fest in London, and runs the annual Inter-House Maths Competition.

This year, Aiglon sent eight students to the Swiss Group of International Schools (SGIS) inter-school competition at Verbier International School, placing ninth and sixth out of 20 schools. The majority were AdMaths students.

"I got to spend a whole day just doing maths," says JiaoJiao. "And I noticed how many of us who went were from AdMaths. The work we had done throughout the year really showed."

A Foundation for What Comes Next

AdMaths has nudged several students in directions they did not anticipate. Sereyroat is now considering medicine at university, a path that requires higher level mathematics. "I joined because I love maths but it turned out to also be exactly what I needed."

JiaoJiao arrived planning to pursue art. "Through teaching the course, I've realised I might enjoy teaching mathematics properly one day," she says. "I really hadn't expected that."

For Dr Watson, this is the point. "We started with a small group of students who wanted to do more mathematics," she says. "Come up to the maths floor on a Thursday evening and you'll see where mathematics may take you.”