SPS Mathematics Blog

We hosted approximately thirty Year 10 pupils from partner schools in London (including Fulham Boys School, Grey Coat Hospital, Christ’s School, St Paul’s Girls School, and West London Free School). In addition to the mathematics sessions, break-out activities included a bridge-building engineering challenge in which teams of six pupils constructed a load-bearing bridge exclusively out of A3 paper, lollipop sticks and Sellotape, spanning 50cm, which was then tested – to destruction – by incrementally adding more and more weight for the bridge to bear. The pupils also took on a cypher challenge, again in teams of six, to construct a cypher using fifty 1p coins and fifteen 2p coins, and then – in half-teams – to encrypt and decrypt as much plaintext as possible. Here are some of the activities on offer: Mathematical Proof ( a report by Mr Cullen-Hewitt ) What constitutes a proof? Images of dusty chalkboards heavily laden with obscure symbols and inscrutable diagrams might spring to mind,...

The teachers in the mathematics department are always looking for ways to give pupils scholarly opportunities beyond the core curriculum topics. Lessons often develop mathematical ideas well beyond the syllabus but pupils require time to research ideas, then spend time reflecting on what they have read before practising questions and developing a deeper understanding for themselves. They then need the opportunity to discuss ideas with others so their understanding can be scrutinised. With this in mind, following the summer exams, the top two 5th form (Year 10) sets embarked on a two week investigation into a non-syllabus topic such as fractals, modular arithmetic and infinite series. At the end, each pupil presented their findings. The class asked some searching questions about anything that wasn’t clear.

The Toller Prize final was held in the John Colet Hall in front of a live audience of parents and students. It was another year of strong lectures, but ultimately, there had to be a winner. The judging panel chose "Trains The Circular Revolution" as the winning lecture of the Toller Prize 2024 A huge well done to the runners up with their lectures "Intuition Mathematics vs Deduction Mathematics" and "Markov Chains": https://vimeo.com/1008202641?share=copy#t=0 https://vimeo.com/1008202785?share=copy#t=0