In 2011, inspired by Khan Academy we decided to experiment with the making of maths videos for our pupils. The attraction was that we hoped the videos would be useful for our pupils to revise topics covered in class, useful for pupils who missed school and useful for pupils in our school who did not have access to home support and private tuition. We had previously used other available video resources with our pupils to varying degrees of success but differences in mathematical terminology and explanations as compared to classroom explanations meant that at times we did not achieve the success we anticipated.

Some of the first videos we made were for classes who needed some intense revision for their GCSE maths exams. Our pupils found the videos really helpful for revising topics for the exam - they would make revision cards while watching a tutorial and then attempt the past paper questions and check their answers on our past paper solutions videos. Pupils in our classes and other classes in our school told us how much they appreciated the videos and the results achieved showed that the videos had helped them perform well in their exams.

A byproduct of the making of the initial sets of maths videos was that pupils from across the country (and in some cases the world) started viewing our videos and using them to revise and learn various mathematical topics. Our Testimonials page shows some of the impact the videos have had with pupils working towards maths qualifications. This outside school impact was originally entirely unexpected whilst being very rewarding and it encouraged us to continue our work.

In 2012, having been surprised and delighted with the engagement with our videos for our own pupils and others outside our school we decided to run a flipped classroom approach with several of our classes at school. In this approach, we prepared YouTube maths videos for our pupils to watch at home and them come into class and work their way through maths problems for the entire duration of the class. Another result of this method was that in 2012, we managed to make many more videos which were being used by pupils across the country for their Key Stage , GCSE and A-Level studies. For more information about our work on flipped learning please see our Teachers section on the website and our TES podcast with TES Maths Advisor Craig Barton, click here.

The videos we produced were put in YouTube playlists at www.youtube.com/hegartymaths and www.youtube.com/mrarnoldsmaths. The YouTube channels which were helping pupils across our school and other pupils in the country were nominated for The 2013 Education Innovation Awards (click here). In 2012 our channels were made partner of YouTubeEDU, YouTube's educational video platform.

Our work on YouTube and our use of iPads with our videos for extra tuition for the most disadvantaged pupils in our school contributed to our winning of the 2012 Let Teachers SHINE competition, a national competition supported by TES for teachers with ideas to help pupils achieve from disadvantaged backgrounds. We won £15,000 to run after school sessions using our video tutorials for pupils needing extra support. (click here).

Throughout 2012, we created many videos and now have over 600 videos covering several aspects of the Key Stage 3, GCSE and A-Level curriculums, along with many past paper solution walkthroughs. We have now produced this website www.hegartymaths.com in order to help pupils and teachers access the material we have made much more easily should they find use of it in their maths learning and revision. Based on our YouTube analytics we now have 5,000 subscribers and we are fast approaching 1 million YouTube views with views in over 196 countries.

Our aim is to provide videos and resources for all aspects of the maths curriculum that enable pupils to improve their mathematical skills in and outside the classroom. Our particular focus is to help pupils who need a little extra support outside the classroom by providing a platform for them to learn independently yet feel they have the guidance and support through their maths studies. Over time, our aim is for our website to feature many interactive elements and downloadable resources over and above the video tutorials. Some of our resources can be found on our TES pages, and we are now TES Maths Panel members.

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We already interact with hundreds of pupils on Twitter with help, advice and our popular Classic Mistake tweets.

We believe that all pupils can enjoy success in their maths studies and our mission at HegartyMaths is to help that process for students in any way we can. For updates on courses relevant to you please subscribe to our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/hegartymaths and subscribe to our HegartyMaths website newsletter.

Best regards

HegartyMaths Team