How Hague Primary Took Pupils From Single-Digit Scores To Reaching Expected Standards In Their Maths SATs

Back in 2018, Hague Primary School in Bethnal Green, London, signed up to Third Space Learning to help raise maths attainment in their school. Fast forward to 2022 and the return of SATs after two years, they knew they had to do every they could to help each child succeed. After their SATs success in 2022, the staff at Hague were keen to support their pupils in the same tried and tested way in 2023.

We spoke to Maths Lead, Ekram Ali who shared the incredible progress of Hague’s Year 6 pupils thanks to regular and sustained opportunities to practice SATs-style questions in a one to one environment. Particularly pupils who at the start of the 21/22 academic year, were barely on track to hit Expected Standard but ended up only one mark away from Greater Depth.

“When bearing in mind the impact of the last 2 years, I’m really happy with our SATs results. Over 80% of our Third Space Learners met the Year 6 expectations in their SATs and when they came into Year 6, they were working at Year 2 or 3 level. The knock-on effect of COVID really impacted this group of children. Engagement with online learning was really low so when they came back to school full time, we just had to assume that the majority of what we taught over the past 2 years was missed. We had a lot of learning gaps across our Year 5 and 6 cohorts.” 

In 2023 the SATs success continued for Hague Primary School. Of the 12 children receiving online one to one maths tutoring with Third Space Learning, 92% met age-related expectations with 2 children achieving above age-related expectations.

Read more about how teachers across the country felt about the 2023 SATs: Results of our teacher survey! What do you think?

How Third Space Learning made an impact

Ekram went on to highlight particular pupils and the success of their SATs results. 

“I chose this group of pupils to do sessions not only to plug their learning gaps but because they weren’t confident with maths and really just didn’t like the subject. I can see that the weekly one to one sessions they’ve had with their tutors has definitely had a positive impact, especially on their overall engagement and confidence in maths.” 

“We are really happy with the confidence that the children developed in maths, especially those who chipped away at their maths phobia.”

“One pupil was essentially working at pre-key stage foundation in Year 2 but he’s absolutely skyrocketed, especially with the help of the Third Space Learning sessions. He had been working towards the Expected Standard and made so much progress. He was only 1 mark away from Greater Depth.” 

“Another pupil used to cry in almost every maths lesson. In assessments throughout the year, she was getting single-digit scores so I didn’t think she would reach the Expected Standard but she did. After attending the Third Space Learning sessions I could see she also had an attitude shift towards maths. She knows that even if she doesn’t know the answer, she should give it a go and explain how she’s doing it.”

How the Third Space Learning curriculum prepared students for SATs

When looking at the impact of the SATs revision programme, Ekram details why it worked so well for his pupils. 

“It definitely works. Doing a test is a skill and that’s what we practise in class. When the Third Space Learners are in class, they will say “I did a question like this with my tutor!”. Those practice exam questions bring context to maths and that’s essential in the reasoning paper. I like that approach a lot and it reinforces what I’m teaching in the classroom too. We also revisit these skills and concepts in our early bird work when the pupils arrive in the morning.” 

How the Third Space Learning Maths Hub resources benefitted pupils across the school

Every pupil at Hague was able to benefit from Third Space Learning, not just those signed up for the tuition, through the use of the Third Space Maths Hub resources.

“I use Fluent in Five and Rapid Reasoning and I’ve made sure that every teacher across the school has them all printed off and ready to use each morning. It’s the pupils’ morning routine and even throughout the whole lockdown, it was the one thing they never missed. A lot of the children really enjoy doing it and I’ve been able to see the impact it has on the children who are early and complete the worksheets versus those who are late and miss that essential practise time.” 

“I had one child who really struggled with basic maths and she was a real concern for me. She often turned up late to class so missed doing the regular morning practise questions and I knew she needed to attend Third Space Learning sessions so that she could at least get on track to hitting the Expected Standard in her SATs. To ensure she wasn’t missing out on any valuable learning, I set Fluent in Five and Rapid Reasoning as her homework each day and the combination of frequent arithmetic and the one to one time with her tutor enabled her to reach the Expected Standard which I’m over the moon about.”

How the Third Space Learning reports support teachers and parents

After the SATs results 2022 and 2023 were released, Ekram combined the information from the Third Space Learning progress reports for each pupil with a detailed report about their SATs along with an explanation of the scores for parents.

“We regularly look at the Third Space Learning reports, they give a clear indication of what they’re working on, what they’re finding easy and what they’re struggling with. I also look at the effort each pupil is putting in so I can ensure they’re getting the most out of sessions. We then relay this information to parents and say how their child is really benefitting from the one to one sessions. They’re all really supportive.”

“When we got the SATs results back, and we shared the scores with parents, they were really shocked. They came up to me after reading the reports and were saying how incredible the scores were. We were all really pleased, to have children go from such low scores to reaching the Expected Standard is amazing. Third Space Learning really works; there’s no way it doesn’t!” 

It’s not just Ekram who finds the reports valuable; they’re also regularly monitored by Hague’s Senior Leadership Team to ensure pupils are progressing throughout the programme.

What do Hague’s teachers and pupils say about Third Space Learning?

We had the privilege of visiting Hague Primary School where we sat down and spoke with Headteacher, Sue and Year 5 teacher, Jo about their experience with Third Space Learning. We also had the opportunity to watch a session in action and so can you! 

Here’s what their Third Space Learners had to say about why they love their sessions so much:

“I love Third Space Learning because it really boosts my confidence. When I get back to class after a session, people are really shocked and amazed at how well I’m doing.” – Emmanuel

“My favourite thing about my tutor is that she speaks clearly and she makes me understand what we’re doing.” – Wasif

“Before Third Space Learning I didn’t really feel very confident with maths. But now that I have it, it helps me in maths a lot.” – Zoya

“I love Third Space Learning because I can focus on what I’m doing. It used to be hard but now I have more confidence that I can do it now even better than ever before!” – Radia

If you want to hear more from schools across the country who’ve smashed their SATs this year, you can read more SATs success stories from the Third Space Learning family.