Educational Visits and Competitions Maths

Year 10 celebrate Pi Day on 14th March (3.14) by taking part in a range of Using Maths activities to deepen their understanding of the relationship between a circle’s radius, diameter, circumference and area. The activities are set up and led by a group of Sixth Form pupils applying for courses related to Education and the development of young people at University. The Pi Day maths experience involves teamwork in order to develop maths skills, through four enjoyable and engaging group activities, all of which use and improve different aspects of pupil’s mathematical knowledge involving circles and ultimately Pi.

  • Pie Face – a test of times tables, memory and the ability to answer mathematical sums in a short space of time, with the added pressure of getting a face full of whipped cream!
  • Which holds more? – the collection and analysis of data leading to discussions concerning the relationship between the circumference and capacity of a cylinder
  • Pi Treasure Hunt – working quickly in teams to successfully complete a circular trail of clues/problems
  • Pi Dingbats & Izak 9 – thinking outside of the box to solve visual word puzzles and circle questions

During the day pupils are challenged to recall as many digits of Pi as possible with some pupils being able to state over 80 digits which is brilliant but maybe a little way off breaking the amazing World Record of 70,300 digits!

The UK Junior Maths Challenge takes place towards the end of April (most years) and involves pupils attempting 25 multiple choice questions in one hour. Each question in the challenge is of a problem-solving nature with the final 10 questions providing pupils with extra challenge. The top 40% of students sitting the challenge from across the United Kingdom receive a gold, silver or bronze certificate.

During the month of June Year 8 and 9 pupils’ mental arithmetic skills are tested competing against the other pupils in their class to gain one of the 24 qualification places for the end of year Game 24 Finals. The aim of the game is to multiply, divide, add or subtract all 4 numbers in the card so that the end result is 24.