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London teacher behind lockdown maths website on $1m prize shortlist

Former investment banker Dr Jamie Frost, 33
Former investment banker Dr Jamie Frost, 33

A maths teacher from London is in the running for a $1 million prize after being named among the world’s 10 best educators.

Former investment banker Jamie Frost, 33, who teaches at Tiffin School in Kingston, has made the shortlist for the sixth Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize.

The prize, decided by a panel of international education experts, is awarded annually to a single school teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession.

Mr Frost, who has a PhD in Computer Science from Oxford, set up free website DrFrostMaths.com in 2017 to help struggling students. It offers interactive quizzes, teaching slides and videos, and UK exam board questions to practice on, plus resources for teachers. During lockdown, daily hits rose from 400,000 to 1.3 million, and it is now used by more than 7,000 schools worldwide.

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Mr Frost said it was “amazing” to be on the shortlist. If he wins in a virtual ceremony on December 3, “every single penny” will go on expanding the site, which he is setting up as a charity. “The prize money would change the situation,” he said. “DrFrostMaths doesn’t even have one full-time staff member, so we need funding to do it properly.”

He added: “Because my platform is for teachers to be able to set work for students so they can get on with it, lockdown has been huge… There is no replacement for being in front of students, and I really miss that, but this has worked.”

Mr Frost found out he had made the shortlist via a video recorded by Stephen Fry. He said: “I’m a big fan, so for him to say those nice things about me was great.” He would be the second London teacher to win, after Alperton Community School art and textiles teacher Andria Zafirakou won in 2018.

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