Our Staff

Clare Hargraves

Clare is Headteacher of Cambridge Maths School. Clare is an expert in mathematics education known for her transformational, expectations-driven leadership in maths departments, secondary schools and sixth form colleges across the east of England.

Clare’s previous roles include the teaching of mathematics across a wide range of settings; leading outstanding maths departments; a deputy headship in a school rated in the top 1% of state schools nationally, and a sixth form headship where she was responsible for transforming the outcomes of a previously underperforming college.

More recently, Clare’s trust-wide consultancy work has been focussed on curriculum design and the professional development of staff, with facilitating and embedding a culture of rigorous high expectations in mathematics education at the forefront of all that she does.

This wealth of experience means she is uniquely well placed to lead the Cambridge Mathematics School in its endeavour to ensure truly outstanding and enhanced mathematics provision is available to A-Level students across the region.

Clare is passionate about the ability mathematics has to promote and develop intellectual excellence, resilience and curiosity, and feels privileged to be the founding headteacher of this extraordinary school.

Jack Rudin

Jack is the Director of Strategy and Engagement at Cambridge Maths School. Jack has great deal of experience in growing and developing schools, while maintaining a strong focus on providing consistently high quality teaching and learning opportunities and excellent pastoral care for students.

Jack started his career teaching physics before leading the science department in two secondary schools. More recently Jack has been working internationally and has 12 years’ senior leadership experience in high performing schools. He has a strong track record of school improvement and growth. Before joining the team at Cambridge Maths School Jack spent 5 years as the head of secondary in an international school in Vietnam. He is passionate about ensuring schools provide all students, regardless of their starting points and background, with the opportunity to transform their futures.

Jack is excited to be a key member of the team launching the Cambridge Maths School and looks forward to establishing a centre of excellence which supports passionate mathematicians across East Anglia. Jack sees it as a privilege to work with such a strong team, including our partners at Cambridge University and the wider Cambridge community.

Jack Rudin

Dave Banham

An exceptionally experienced and highly regarded teacher, Dave is the Assistant Headteacher in charge of Mathematics at the Cambridge Maths School. 

He has a huge wealth of experience spanning over thirty years improving and leading Maths departments at both school and Trust level. His passion for the subject has led him to being a certified specialist leader in education where he has worked with colleagues in many schools, coaching and developing them to become outstanding practitioners. 

He is a qualified Advanced Skills Teacher and a Continual Professional Development lead for the National Centre for Excellence in Mathematics, with specialisms in sixth form mathematics. In the past he has worked as a consultant for Cambridge Assessment and PIXL, working to develop exemplary GCSE and A-Level teaching resources for use across schools internationally.  

Most recently Dave has been leading an outstanding Maths department in another ELA school and working with the local Maths Hub to deliver training on how best to teach the most challenging aspects of GCSE and A-Level mathematics. 

Mel Newbery

Mel is the Senior Welfare Lead at Cambridge Maths School and is a leading professional in all matters of student safeguarding and the wider educational provisions for pastoral support.

Mel is known for her dynamic and robust approach striving to ensure student welfare is at the very heart of the work she undertakes. 

Most recently, Mel has been working as a senior leader developing best practice in academies safeguarding and welfare. She has had extensive experience working and developing schools across Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire and continues to be a forward-thinking innovator in all that involves support around students in education. 

As a trained psychotherapeutic counsellor (ADip PsyC), Mel has a solid grounding of knowledge and practical experience to support young people in times of personal challenge. Mel is highly dedicated to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of students and is delighted to have the opportunity to work with a team of leading professionals at Cambridge Maths School in conjunction with Cambridge University. Mel believes that with the right support every young person can thrive and become the very best that they can be. 

Joanna McEwen

As the Head of Science at the Cambridge Maths School, Joanna will be overseeing the Biology, Chemistry and Physics courses and will be teaching Physics alongside other subject specialists.

After graduating with a degree in Physics with Astrophysics, Joanna worked for the University of Glasgow Physics department teaching international summer schools before moving into secondary school teaching. Joanna is an inspiring and innovative educator who has recently been involved in setting up the A-Level Physics course at a new a new sixth form centre. There she led on curriculum design and the creation of resources to excite and challenge students.   

Joanna has also held pastoral roles and understands the importance of the holistic care and development of students’ sense of self alongside their academic progress. With this in mind, Joanna is passionate about advocating for equal opportunities for all students but particularly for girls in STEM subjects where there is a lack of female representation.  

Joanna feels privileged to work with extraordinary staff in a ground-breaking school where educating a new generation of ambitious mathematical scientists is at the forefront.   

Jake Gordon

Jake is Lead Teacher of Computer Science at Cambridge Maths School. An experienced entrepreneur and software developer, he ran his own company before teaching maths and computing. 

Jake has over 20 years of experience creating web-based software. His latest creation – an infinite whiteboard – is in daily use by over 1,000 teachers. His previous company, AllYearbooks, is the UK’s leading school yearbook company, and was sold to Tempest Photography in 2017. Jake has also worked for start-ups in Cambridge and London on data visualisation, analytics and graph theory. 

Since switching to teaching in 2019, he has immersed himself in pedagogical approaches, appearing on Craig Barton’s Tips for Teachers podcast and hosting a workshop at MathsConf. Jake is excited at the prospect of inspiring a new generation of computer scientists, and will be borrowing aspects of agile software development in start-ups to super-charge the learning environment at Cambridge Maths School. 

Roselle Graham

Roselle is the biology teacher at Cambridge Maths School. Roselle is an experienced teacher of biology both at sixth form colleges and at university level.  

Roselle is really interested in the interaction between maths and biology. She first became interested when studying mathematical biology as part of her degree at the University of Cambridge. She has had a previous career in biochemical research and so saw first-hand how important a thorough understanding of maths is to work in the fascinating field of biological research.  

Roselle is passionate about the natural world and how biology is found in the everyday world around us. Mathematical biology has the potential to improve our future health and wellbeing through bioinformatics and drug discovery, modelling the spread of infectious disease and so informing public policy and using statistical ecology to help understand the impact of climate change.  

More recently, Roselle has been working in assessment where she is both a setter and a Principal Examiner. She is excited about preparing students for the right next steps for them and is looking forward to helping the next generation of STEM researchers!  

Clare Stourton

During her PhD (in Solid State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy) Clare realised that she enjoyed tutoring university students far more than research, and so she went into teaching.

Clare has taught chemistry in schools in Saffron Walden and Cambridge for many years, gaining extensive experience in all the theoretical and practical aspects of A-Level chemistry.  

Clare is looking forward to working in a dedicated maths and science environment and to the unique opportunities presented by teaching chemistry to such mathematically-minded students. She is keen to provide both individualised support to boost student confidence, and challenges beyond the A-Level curriculum. 

Ellen Berry

Ellen studied maths at Cambridge University where she specialised in applied maths and then stayed on to study a master’s in astrophysics.

After completing her PGCE at Cambridge University Ellen taught maths at a high performing school for four years, where she was able to support with Oxbridge preparation, as well as running various maths challenges including the UKMT. 

Having applied to Cambridge from a state school in East Anglia, Ellen knows just how important a role the Cambridge Maths School will play in promoting the study of maths across the region. She is extremely excited to be a part of the teaching team and help provide the support and extension for students, as well as working with colleagues to provide outreach opportunities to other schools in the area. 

Ellen particularly enjoys teaching beyond the syllabus by looking at interesting and challenging problems, including STEP questions, and by striving to frame A-Level content in a broader mathematical context.  

Susan Hutchinson

Susan first indulged her talent for Mathematics and problem solving as a teenager through UKMT Maths Challenges and Olympiads. 

After achieving success in UKMT olympiads she was invited to a summer school and an olympiad training camp where she discovered the power and the joy of doing Mathematics alongside like-minded peers. She went on to study mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge, achieving a first-class honours degree and then completing the fourth year Master of Mathematics course. 

After graduating, Susan’s first full-time job was Cambridge RAG President. In this role she enjoyed leading a large network of university students to raise money for a range of charities, although she soon realised that she wanted to return to education as a mathematics teacher, so that she could inspire the next generation of mathematicians whilst continuing to experience the joy of solving problems. She has since built up ten years of teaching experience across all secondary school ages and abilities and has played a key role in the development of her school’s further mathematics A-Level curriculum. 

Susan is passionate about extending and enriching her students’ experiences of mathematics and ensuring that all her students have the support that they need to achieve their goals. In her previous school she launched weekly mathematics enrichment clubs and offered individual support to students preparing for interviews and entrance exams for mathematics related university courses. 

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