Over the decades the status of teachers has been eroded while maths graduates are attracted away from education to industry and financial services, one step which seeks to reassert the professionalism of Mathematics teachers is the introduction of the Chartered Mathematics Teacher designation last September. This is a highly coveted award within the profession as it requires the candidates to rigorously demonstrate a range of competencies between teaching skills, mathematical knowledge and commitment to support the professional development of others that is necessary for a professional teacher to educate and inspire today's students. C Math Teach also identifies an individual as being at the forefront of the profession, encapsulating standards of professional excellence across mathematics teaching in the 21st century.

We at Kingswood are therefore very proud that our Head of Mathematics, Garrod Musto, is one of less than 30 teachers nationwide to have been awarded C Math Teach status since its inception. Garrod has taught at Kingswood for 16 years, joining in 1994 as an NQT. He said “Although I am very pleased to have recently received this award, I must recognise the role of Kingswood School, which has enabled me to develop during my time here. I had the opportunity to become a part time research fellow at Exeter University for several years, and then was encouraged to study for an MPhil examining the use of sport within the maths classroom. Since then I have had ample opportunity for career progression acting as Head of Department for the past 8 years, and my involvement with the MEI Industry Committee in addition to work within the Institute of Mathematics, and its Applications, becoming a member of IMA Council, and their Schools and FE Committee”.

More recently Mr Musto has become involved with a number of projects working with local primary and secondary schools, and he hopes this work will develop over the coming years. Indeed, next academic year he will spend time working with Bath Community Rugby as one of their Educational Welfare officers, delivering a personal finance project to school children locally. Mr Musto is very excited by this initiative as he helped devise the project, which uses the example of Bath Rugby's Butch James to inspire students to learn aspects of mathematics within a context that they will need in later life. This project was also inspired by the example of one of our former students James Davies Yandle, who is Butch James' sports agent.