Photo by Fitzalan High School

Last month, a Welsh teacher waited with baited breath while his class of thirty students counted down together towards the moment when they would all open the results of their mathematics exam.

When the moment finally arrived, a chorus of gasps erupted from the class of mostly minority, low-income, and English second-language speakers as they realized each and every last one of them had gotten an A*—which is the equivalent of an A+ in Wales.

Francis Elive, a teacher at Fitzalan High School in Cardiff, Wales, has since been hailed as the “Maths Whisperer” since he managed to guide each and every one of his pupils to the highest possible grade.

Cllr Sarah Merry, the cabinet member for education, employment and skills at Cardiff council, welcomed the school’s success when she spoke to The Guardian in January.

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“We call him the maths whisperer,” Elive’s teaching assistant Jo Kemp told Wales Online. “He instills the belief that they have practiced the hardest maths that they have to ever face, so why be scared of an exam? It’s the belief that they absolutely can do it, and the children think it’s magic.”

To put the achievement of Elive and his pupils into perspective, only 13% of Welsh students who took the exam managed to get an A* or higher grade last summer.

“What an incredible result. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of an entire class scoring A* across the board,” she said. “I want to congratulate all the pupils, their teacher Mr. Elive, and of course the school for this wonderful achievement.”

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