UKMT Maths Challenge and Further Maths at KS4 Enrichment Clubs

The Department for Education in the English national curriculum for mathematics (December 2014) has clearly illustrated the ‘Pupils who grasp concepts rapidly should be challenged through being offered rich and sophisticated problems before any acceleration through new content’.

One of the ways in which our Maths department is achieving this objective is through our enrichment clubs for higher ability students - UKMT Maths Challenge for KS3 students every Monday and Level 2 GCSE Further Maths for KS4 students every Tuesday. These clubs have allowed the students to access a stretch and challenge curriculum that provides them a platform to express themselves beyond their normal classroom experience through Maths investigations, problem solving and Mathematical thinking.

The success of these clubs is reflected in the excellent results our school has enjoyed in the UKMT Maths challenges over the years. This year, we had a success percentage of 95% in the Junior Maths Challenge (Y7 and Y8) and 57% in the Intermediate Maths Challenge (Y9 and Y10) – our best results till date:

• Junior Maths Challenge: Participants: 39, Gold: 9. Silver: 16, Bronze: 12
• Intermediate Maths Challenge: Participants: 37, Gold: 1. Silver: 7, Bronze: 13

Eight of those students also qualified for the next stage of the competition, i.e. Kangaroos, which includes a Year 6 primary student who we supported to access the programme. We are proud of all the students for their achievement!