Mathematics Enrichment Programme Events
The dates for the events for 2024 - 25 have been set and you can find the details and application forms are below.
Dates for other events will be published as soon as they are set and information sent out to schools.
All schools within traveling distance are invited to attend the events, if your school does not receive information about the events and would like to be added to the mailing list please contact Jenny Sharp
Schools can book for any event once the dates have been finalised, all bookings are done online and the links to each application form can be found below.
If you need any further details about any event please contact Jenny Sharp on jsharp@plymouth.ac.uk
Year 9 Royal Institution Masterclasses, Spring 2025
2025 saw the 27th series of Year 9 Masterclasses at Plymouth which are part of a nationwide programme in association with the Royal Institution, more details can be find here. It is a series of 6 Saturday mornings, each exploring a topic which is not covered in the school’s curriculum and are designed to stretch the students’ ability. The dates for the 2025 series are
This year we had the following programme:From Flowers to Fine Art, An investigation into a remarkable number – Φ with Dr Jenny Sharp. Rabbits and bees, sunflowers and pine cones, spirals and architecture through numbers, algebra and geometry, all linked by adding 1 and 1.
Being Roughly Correct: Guesstimation with Dr Martin Lavelle. How to develop a feel for the size of numbers, explore the mathematics of exponential growth (with an application to folding paper) and solve various problems approximately.
Codes, cyphers and encryption with Dr James Edwards. Learn how to keep things secret, send information securely and ensure that only the intended recipient can decode your message.
Counting Symmetries with Dr Colin Christopher. How many different wallpaper patterns can you make? We will show how to generate wallpaper patterns from a small number of symmetries and how these symmetries can be counted to describe all possible patterns. We will show why the counting works using a little topology (the study of shapes) and describe some 2D patterns with simple rules for making them, but no symmetries at all.
Optimal Primes with Terry Butler, Advanced Mathematics Support Programme. Fun with prime numbers and how they are important to your day-to-day life.
A Mathematical Medley A variety of activities followed by presentation of certificates
Year 9 South West Masterclass Follow up Day, June 2025
This whole day event is primarily for all the students who attended the Royal Institution Mathematics Masterclasses with the Plymouth, North Devon, Exeter and Truro groups in the spring term but is open to other masterclass groups in the wider South West.
You will have the opportunity to work on a number of activities throughout the day. As this day is a school day then you should first ask permission from school for the day off. There is no charge for this day but you will need to bring a packed lunch and drink. The day will start at 10:00am and finish at 3.00pm and you will need to make your own way to the University in Plymouth.
Details have been sent directly to the students who attended the year 9 series in the spring term with information also being sent to their school.
If you need any further details about this day please contact Jenny Sharp on jsharp@plymouth.ac.uk
Year 10 Residential Masterclass
The year 10 residential courses at Easter 2025 are one of the highlights of the year even though they are the most stressful – being responsible for 15 years olds for three days and two nights! These courses are a follow-up course for students who attended the Saturday Year 9 classes at Plymouth, Bideford or Truro the previous year.
40 students attended the two courses, which consisted of 6 sessions covering a wide variety of topics exploring various areas of mathematics
Fair Games and Fractals This session started by exploring the number of paths that a marble takes through a triangular array - a Galton Board. This leads very nicely onto Pascal's Triangle and we discovered some of its many interesting features. We finished by colouring in Pascals triangle, what happens if you colour in all the odd numbers? A fractal - the Sierpinski Triangle, emerges and this set the scene for the rest of the week - we created a 3 dimensional fractal - a Menger's Sponge, from 2400 train tickets!
3 dimensional origami Modular origami is a technique that can be used to build some pretty interesting and impressive models of mathematical objects. In modular origami, you combine multiple units folded from single pieces of paper into more complicated forms. The Sonobe unit is a simple example unit from modular origami that is both easy to fold and we were able to create cubes, octahedrons and iscosohedrons.
Group Theory This session took us away from the very hands on to the abstract as we learnt a bit of University level mathematics!
The Maths Trail This session allowed the students to get out of the classroom and find 24 questions that were placed around the site. Working in groups to find and answer as many as they could lead to some bartering between groups!
2 dimensional origami Back to the hands on with this session as we explored the 2 dimensional shapes that can be created by folding a square of paper
Shorelines, snowflakes and Sierpinski Triangles This session explored the Coast Line Paradox - the coastline has infinite length, which fed nicely into the Koch Snowflake, a shape with an infinite perimeter but a finite area. We finished by creating yet another fractal - a Kirigami which brings us back to Sierpinski's Triangle.
Year 10 Mathematics Taster Day - "What study A level Mathematics?"
Nearly 700 students and 70 mathematics teachers from 28 schools across Devon, Cornwall and Somerset attended over 3 taster days run in December 2024. Each student took part in 3 workshops which were designed to show them mathematics beyond what is studied in schools. The aim of the day was to encourage the students to consider Mathematics as an A level choice.
Year 12 Taster Day - "What can I do with my A Level Mathematics?" 1st and 9th July 2024
The application for schools to book onto this event is now open.
This is an annual event and will be held at the beginning of July each year. Information will be sent out to schools and colleges as early as possible in the academic year. Please contact me if you would like to be added to the mailing list for Year 12 events.
As part of our outreach and enrichment activities in the Mathematics Department at Plymouth University, we are running two Year 12 University Taster Days on Tuesday 1st July and Wednesday 90th July
The day will consist of a number of hands-on interactive workshops from the School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics. The students will take part in a mathematics workshop, an engineering workshop and a computing workshop. The aim of the day is to provide your Year 12 students with a taste of three of the many courses that are on offer at University to those with an A level in mathematics. In addition, there will be a Course Fair during the lunch time to allow the students to get information on some of the other courses on offer at Plymouth.
There is no cost for the day.
You are invited to bring a group (any size) of year 12 students to this event. Ideally the group will need to be accompanied by at least one adult from school who will be responsible for them during the day. However, we know that releasing teachers to attend these days comes at a cost to the school. In certain circumstances, we are able to accept a group from a school without an accompanying teacher. Please contact me to discuss this possibility.
If you would like to bring a group of students to this event please complete the online application form
Year 12 taster day online application form: Year 12 taster day application form This link will open in a new tab and takes you to an external site run by Microsoft Forms.
I will confirm your application and give your some more details. Nearer the time I will send you full details, also asking you to confirm the final numbers and the names of the students and adults so that they can be given badges and details of which workshops they have been allocated to.
If you need any further details about the year 12 taster day please contact Jenny Sharp on jsharp@plymouth.ac.uk