This last picture was taken right at the end of my time in the school, when the "loosening up" process was complete!  Other changes in class happened progressively too.  Originally students expected very much to be taught, pretty much by rote, certain explicit mathematical techniques.  It took a lot of work to get across the idea that maths is about reasoning and thinking and analysis.  The tricky part of any problem, whether in real life or in a maths exam, is looking at the problem and working out how on earth to tackle it, using the techniques that one has learned - the actual application of the techniques is comparatively easy.  This comment could be made about pretty much any maths class anywhere in the world.