Miranda Morrison

How to win the Maths Challenge

  • From Spectator Life

Simon Singh, founder of the Good Thinking Society and author of The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets, believes that parents should ferociously ‘lobby their children’s schools’ if they still don’t run the annual Maths Challenge. For those not familiar with it, the Maths Challenge is a phenomenally well-organised competition run by the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust (UKMT). It doesn’t cost much to enter — £13 for ten papers (for ten pupils) — and is a massive opportunity for children from all backgrounds.

UKMT, a charity founded in 1996, aims to ‘advance the education of young people in mathematics’. It works with schools and volunteers to arrange junior, intermediate and senior challenges. There are follow-up rounds, Olympiads, team events, mentoring schemes and summer schools. About 700,000 children participate every year.

Throughout my career as a maths teacher, I have seen too many maths-savvy children cruise through GCSE content but left unfulfilled or even under-prepared for the challenges of further study. Unlike subjects such as English, history, science and geography — which can all be experienced outside the classroom — mathematics has always been harder to bring to life. It is a world that can sometimes seem uninspiring.

Over the past two decades, much attention has been given to improving mathematics teaching in Britain. How to get more girls interested? How to foster confidence in learners for both functional and abstract forms of the subject? How to use different teaching styles to spice lessons up and cultivate a deep understanding and genuine curiosity? Perhaps we will never truly solve these dilemmas because maths is a discipline: often prescriptive, sometimes applied. But the Maths Challenge does an excellent job of inspiring children who are interested.

Unlike subjects such as English, history, science and geography, mathematics has always been harder to bring to life

How does it work? The junior challenge in April is aimed at years 7 and 8 (key stage 3); the intermediate takes place in February for years 9, 10 and 11 (key stage 4), and the senior in November for A-level students.

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