Award for ‘One to One Maths’ Co-founder

The Queen awarded an MBE in her Birthday Honours list to John Sidwell ‘For services to prisoners through One to One Maths’, in recognition of the work he has done to deliver a user friendly numeracy learning system for prisoners. One to One Maths is currently embedded in seven prisons, including Featherstone, Hewell, Long Lartin, Oakwood, Parc, Stafford and Usk.

John, who before retirement had a successful career in industrial management, was a volunteer with the Shannon Trust Reading Plan at HMP Gloucester before it was closed. During his time there he was told by both prison officers and prisoners that maths was, for many prisoners, even more of a challenge than reading. He says, “Then one night I had a eureka moment when into my head came the idea of One to One Maths for prisoners.” So with his colleague and friend Don Gillanders, he set about developing an innovative approach to maths learning which is aimed at prisoners who struggle with maths but are reluctant for any number of reasons to engage with formal teaching in the classroom.

By training peer mentors to assist learners, the scheme has brought a new understanding to many prisoners who would otherwise not have developed numeracy skills. The key to the success lies in the creation of individual learning plans delivered by inspirational peer mentors who provide feedback at every stage of the learning journey, which in turn generates confidence in learners who can see their progress and so feel ambitious to achieve even more success.

John says, “Special attention is given to celebrating a learner’s success by organising events where learners are awarded their certificates of achievement and their much coveted One to One Maths mug! These are fun events but have a serious purpose in recognising self- motivated achievement and to show appreciation for the hard work of our peer mentors.”

His enthusiasm can be seen in the comments he has received from successful learners. One learner wrote, “This is the first time I have been awarded anything. Thank you One to One Maths for giving me the confidence. I can now even go into the classroom!” While a peer mentor said,“I believe that One to One Maths has made a large impact on the general attitude to learning. As an inmate I have seen how it has changed the behaviour of prisoners and their willingness to learn”.

John added, “The scheme, once in a prison, develops quickly. In just three weeks at Oakwood, thanks to the leadership of an inspirational maths tutor and the enthusiasm of our newly trained mentors, 40 prisoners have begun to develop maths skills they thought were beyond them and from which they see many practical benefits – not least making adding up their canteen spends easier and accurate! One to One Maths is about to start at Rugby and Portland. Providing we can recruit enough peer mentor volunteers, together with new volunteers from local communities, to help develop One to One Maths, we hope to accelerate our work to other prisons over the coming year”.

Of course nothing in life is altogether free and the materials, the all important promotional items, which are provided to encourage learners to take that vital first step to ask for help, together with learning aids, including the unique Maths mate, which gives 25 maths tips, have to be paid for. While there have been some generous donations in the past, finance is a real challenge. John and Don set up the charity in 2014 and they hope that the charitable status of One to One Maths will encourage people who care about the education of prisoners, those men and women who have been failed by their schools or have only now realised the benefits of numeracy, to think about giving generously to enable this work to flourish and expand.

John is very proud of his MBE award but realises that the award reflects the efforts and commitment of so many other supporters saying “I am very grateful to HMP Hewell for putting my name forward to the Honours Committee and for their tremendous support. The honour is in every way a credit to the prison and education staff at the various establishments but is, above all, a tribute to the tremendous team of peer mentors who make One to One Maths a daily reality and the scores of learners who are willing to learn to improve themselves. I can only hope that this award will raise awareness of One to One Maths and serve to promote its aims and objectives so that many more prisoners can reach their full potential. I feel privileged to have been able to start One to One Maths. It is certainly the best job I have ever had!”