The past two weeks have been exceptionally busy and rewarding for the Maths Department, marked by competitions, enrichment activities, and a celebration of mathematical curiosity across the school.

Last week, four students travelled to Portsmouth to take part in the Senior Team Maths Challenge. Nineteen schools from across the region competed, and the standard was impressively high. After three demanding rounds, our team dropped only 12 points out of a possible 160, securing a place in the top ten. To put their performance into perspective, the two winning schools finished jointly in first place without dropping a single point, highlighting just how well our students rose to the challenge.

This week the school has been participating in Maths Week England. Whilst the Upper V have been fully engaged with their mock examinations, pupils in other years have tackled a range of daily puzzles. One particularly memorable problem involved analysing bicycle tracks left in the snow — a fitting theme following Wednesday morning’s brief flurry of snowflakes.

Wednesday also saw the return of Café Maths, which once again proved incredibly popular. Attendance was so strong that a standing row formed at the back of the room; relocating back to the Lecture Theatre next term now seems a sensible step. Talks ranged from modelling the shape of a hole to exploring the safest places to be in the event of a hypothetical global conflict. The IB students presented the findings of their Internal Assessments. Their work demonstrated how deep mathematical investigation continues to enrich their learning.

This was swiftly followed by the Senior Kangaroo Challenge, taken by the top six performers from this term’s Senior Maths Challenge. Despite the difficulty of the problems, the group worked with impressive focus and managed to solve the majority within the allotted hour. We look forward to the results in the end of term assembly.

To conclude the week, the Prefects joined Mr Amblin in the morning assemblies on Thursday and Friday to celebrate mathematical curiosity. Their thought-provoking contributions highlighted that Mathematics is not merely about reaching correct answers but about selecting elegant and efficient methods — a reminder that problem-solving is both an art and a discipline. It has been a vibrant and inspiring time for the Maths Department, showcasing both talent and enthusiasm across the school.