Wycombe Abbey Partnerships – Sharing a Love of Mathematics
27 September 2023 - Academic
This term, a record 32 mathematicians from Wycombe Abbey will sit the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust (UKMT) Mathematics Olympiad for Girls. Many readers will know that this paper, and other opportunities run by the UKMT, are a wonderful way to be challenged by interesting problems and they are a gateway to the sort of creative problem-solving encountered as part of a mathematics degree. As someone who attended a comprehensive school, taking part in competitions such as this was instrumental in developing my love for mathematics.
Pupils at Wycombe Abbey are fortunate that not only is the mathematics curriculum engaging and rich with problem-solving opportunities, but there is also a weekly Mathematics Society which meets every Wednesday where pupils have the chance to look at the Olympiad and other fun problems. In a similar vein, Wycombe Abbey pupils also receive additional support when preparing for university entrance papers, which are increasingly required by top universities for both mathematics and highly quantitative subjects like computer science, engineering and physics.
To make Wycombe Abbey’s approach to mathematical enrichment more widely available to the community, the School is proud to announce two exciting new initiatives.
First, this week sees the launch of our new Conundrum Daily Quiz which will release a maths problem daily. These problems, in the style of training problems for Olympiads or Maths Challenges, will be available for all, and those who register will be able to keep a log of their number of successes over time. The problems will require no special knowledge, but we hope that they will get pupils thinking and feel prepared to try. Today’s problem hopefully sets the tone:
A father and son’s ages contain the same digits but in a different order. The son was born when the father was between 30 and 40 years old. The father is now between 60 and 70 years old. How old is the son?
To find the answer take part in Conundrum
We are also proud to announce the launch of a new online learning platform called Tandem, which will be made available to Year 12 pupils attending non-selective state schools, alongside Wycombe Abbey pupils. This will contain a course aimed at students interested in applying for degrees in mathematical subjects at competitive universities and will provide them with structured preparation MAT, PAT, TSA, TMUA or STEP examinations. If any teachers would like more details about how to register their schools, they should contact me directly by emailing [email protected]
It is noteworthy that both of these exciting projects are made possible thanks to the generous philanthropic support from donors to the School: Mr Jin Su and Dr Sara Shao for Conundrum and an anonymous donor for Tandem. We are grateful for their investment in these initiatives and enthusiasm for academic innovation.
It is hoped that these initiatives will, above all else, spread the love of mathematics far and wide and encourage budding mathematicians everywhere to discover the delights of mathematical problem-solving while opening doors for them to study at the best universities in the UK and beyond.
Mr David Vaccaro
Director of Learning and Innovation
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