Maths department

Pure Maths

Mathematicians in all year groups tested their abilities with UKMT Maths Challenges this year. These lively, intriguing multiple choice question papers are designed to stimulate interest in maths. High performing students receive certificates and the most successful participants are invited to enter Kangaroo and Olympiad followon rounds. Girls’ Division pupils achieved across all levels of the competition a total of 19 Gold, 31 Silver and 46 Bronze certificates. Mandy Yang in Year 11 was awarded a certificate of merit for her outstanding performance in the Intermediate Olympiad. This is an especially impressive achievement since only the top 500 students from each year group are invited to take an Olympiad! Lucy Crabtree was awarded a certificate of merit in the Intermediate (Years 9-11) Kangaroo, and a further five pupils took part at this level: Serena Arya, Joyce Chan, Lucy Dixon, Carol Habib, Alice Morgan, Nabilah Thagia and Elizabeth Williamson. Five pupils were also invited to the Junior (Year 7-8) Kangaroo: Angelie Chitre, Vivienne Hall, Ella Hilton, Sandy Liu and Amelia Stringfellow. Top performers in the UKMT challenges went on to the UK Maths Olympiad for Girls, where they were asked to provide full written solutions to five complex mathematical problems. Sixth Formers Neha Bagewadi, Macey Edwards, Aiman Ibrahim, Aaminah Natha, Emily Rajbhandari, Hannah Rayner, Emma Sellwood and Gabrielle Staveley rose to the challenge and performed admirably. A team of four Year 12 students also took part in the UKMT Senior Team Challenge, which tests mathematical, communication and teamwork skills.

Maths Inspiration

Fifty pupils in Years 11 to 12 attended maths inspiration lectures at the RNCM Concert Hall in Manchester earlier this year. The array of interesting topics included Professor Jennifer Rogers’ talk on the mathematics of risk-taking where she delved into numbers to show how statistics can help us to make better decisions about risky activities. Pupils discovered how circles can be a source of beauty, awe and mystery as Ben Sparks explored ways in which maths can be, literally, moving. Dr Colin Wright showed how spotting patterns can help in a surprising number of situations, including the invention of new juggling tricks. Pupils were warned – beware, patterns aren’t always as predictable as they seem...

Think Maths

Years 7, 9 and 10 enjoyed talks from Dr Katie Steckles of Think Maths, a team of experienced mathematics speakers. She spoke to Year 10 about the hidden maths in technology. There are numbers all around us that make our modern lives possible. The session showed girls the mathematics behind modern technology and emphasised the importance of learning maths for a career in technology. Years 7 and 9 enjoyed hearing about Freaky Probability. Humans are generally bad at intuitively understanding probability – not because they don’t understand maths, but because it’s often counterintuitive. Through a series of examples, including audience games, girls discovered that the chances are not always what we might imagine. The session encouraged pupils to use their maths skills to predict and understand the outcomes of games and real life scenarios.