"It's really good because when you're in class doing maths, you don't really want to pay attention because the teacher's right in front to you, " says Aliyyah.

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"When you are parents, as adults you have been doing maths for a long time and you have your own experiences and your own already established knowledge that has been inculcated at an early age - it's almost instinctive, " she says.

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The Wales Office has been doing the maths, so you don't have to.

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"The same head introduced 'Wow Wednesdays", he said, "where you let your hair down", but one pupil had arrived at a maths lesson and said he was not doing it because of that.

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First, the international comparison of standards in maths and science (TIMSS) showed that England is indeed doing very well.

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Even those young people who hated maths in school find themselves wanting to know the formulae underlying what they are doing, he says, pointing to the lathe on which the apprentices learn how to cut metal.

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But shadow schools minister Kevin Brennan said the report showed that the government had the wrong priorities and should be doing more to provide support in basic skills at primary level as well as strengthening English and maths teaching at secondary level and allowing all students to continue those subjects until 18.

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