Overview

Our Maths Student Community (MSC) is a rolling programme; once enrolled, student remain members of the Community until Year 11, if they would like to.

Our aim is to bring together and inspire able mathematics students from across Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset, forming a community of learners who will work together, share ideas, attend master-classes and receive mentoring.

Teachers frequently identify students within their settings who stand out from the crowd and who can find themselves working in isolation on mathematics that is beyond that of their peers.  Our aim is to bring these students together, to enable them to work with others who are similarly able, to provide stimuli which will deepen and broaden their appreciation of mathematics and its related fields, and to support and encourage their development as problem-solving mathematicians.

It is our intention to support students throughout their secondary school career, regardless of whether or not they decide to apply for a place in our sixth form.

How it works

Students joining the MSC participate in a series of enrichment days at Exeter Maths School, supplemented by two online sessions.

During the enrichment days students will take part in masterclasses and workshops.  They will be introduced to mathematics beyond the normal curriculum and will have the opportunity to develop their problem solving.

How to join

This programme is teacher nominated only; we cannot accept applications from students directly. Teachers – please email events@exeterms.ac.uk to make an enquiry about  ad-hoc nominations.

The annual nomination process opens in the summer term each year and maths teachers in our catchment area will be sent details by email.

If you are already part of the MSC, you will automatically be moved up into the next year group, year on year, although of course with the option to withdraw.

What are Axiom Maths Circles?

These are small groups of students who meet weekly to tackle a curriculum of challenging maths problems. It’s an approach that’s worked successfully in other countries, and which Axiom is bringing to the UK. The beauty of maths circles is that they’re about the relationships as much as the maths.

In Maths Circles, students:

• Work through a structured curriculum of challenging problems. They’re exposed to mathematics from beyond the National Curriculum, that is takes them deep into stretching and satisfying topics they wouldn’t normally encounter at school
• Get stuck, and then unstuck. They get used to encountering problems that they don’t get right first time—and so the satisfaction of solving them is even greater
• Find themselves in a sense of flow. In maths circles there’s no pressure, no test. You get lost in the maths
• Join a community that values maths. In a culture that doesn’t always prize maths in the way it should, Axiom pupils join a social group that values and respects their talent

For further information, please visit Axiom Maths, or email: events@exeterms.ac.uk