Mathematics Enrichment Programme Events

Some dates for the events for 2025 - 26 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 Mathematics Masterclasses, Spring 2025

The application for schools to nominate students onto the masterclasses is now open.

2026 will see the 28th 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 2026 series are

Saturday 24th January, Saturday 31st January, Saturday 7th February, Saturday 7th March, Saturday 14th March and Saturday 21st March.

Each session will start at 10:00 and finish at 12:30 and will be held on the main campus of Plymouth University (PL4 8AA).

Students need to be nominated by their school in order to attend these masterclasses.

If you are a home-educator and think your child would benifit from attending the Masterclasses, please contact me for a discussion

Please click the link below to find a letter that you might find useful to send home with any potential student which will give the parents the details of the year 9 masterclasses as they are on Saturdays and the parents will need to make arrangements to get them to the University.

Initial Information letter for parents click here

The University of Plymouth is able to cover the cost of these masterclasses for all students who wish to attend. The condition is that the students are committed and make every attempt to attend the majority of the 6 sessions. Numbers are initially limited to 6 students per school to allow as many schools to participate as possible.

Applications should be made from schools using the link below. If you have any problems with the application form, please contact Jenny Sharp on jsharp@plymouth.ac.uk

Online application form: Year 9 online application This link will open in a new tab and takes you to an external site run by Microsoft Forms.

If you need any further details about the year 9 masterclasses please contact Jenny Sharp on jsharp@plymouth.ac.uk

The Masterclass series at Plymouth University covers the Plymouth, SE Cornwall, West Devon, South Hams and Torbay region. There are similar Masterclass groups in Truro, Exeter and North Devon which cover the rest of Devon and Cornwall. You should receive information from your local group. If you are not sure which Masterclass group you are covered by please get in touch with Jenny Sharp jsharp@plymouth.ac.uk and I will point you in the right direction.

Year 10 Residential Masterclass

The year 10 residential courses at Easter 2026 is 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, North Devon, Exeter and Truro the previous year.

The details about the year 10 course will be sent directly to all of the parents of the students who attended the year 9 classes at Plymouth, North Devon, Exter and Truro in the spring of 2025. If you have not received the information by November 2025 or need any further details about this course please contact Jenny Sharp on jsharp@plymouth.ac.uk

Year 10 Mathematics Taster Day - "What study A level Mathematics?"

The application for schools to book onto this event is now open.

As part of our outreach and enrichment activities we are running four Year 10 Mathematics Taster Days, 2 at Christmas, Tuesday 16th December and Wednesday 17th December 2025, and 2 at Easter, Tuesday 31st March and Wednesday 1st April 2026.

The day will consist of a number of hands-on interactive workshops on a variety of mathematical topics. There are a number of workshops covering all aspects of mathematics including applications to engineering, statistics as well as topics such as cryptography and geometry. .

The aim of the day is to provide your Year 10 students with a taste of mathematics at University with the hope that it will encourage them to consider mathematics post 16 or hopefully post 18. The workshops are designed to be accessible to your top sets and will be challenging as well as enjoyable!

The day will start at 09:30 and finish at 15:00.

The event will be held on the main campus of Plymouth University (PL4 8AA).

There is no cost for the day.

You are invited to bring a group of year 10 students to this event, the group will need to be accompanied by an adult/adults from school who will be responsible for them during the day.

We are initially limiting numbers to 30 per school which will enable you to bring a whole class. However, it is anticipated that this day will be oversubscribed,so we will ask that, should you have to decrease the number you initially applied for, you give as much notice as possible so we can offer the places to other schools.

The students will be allocated to the different workshops, we aim to have workshop sizes between 20 and 25 to enable a hands on interactive experience. Therefore if you bring a group which is larger than 20 we will need to split your students into two or three groups so that they attend different workshops. If there are 2 or more accompanying adults then that will make sorting the students into different groups easier. If only one member of staff is accompanying the group and the group size is greater than 20, I will contact you to discuss how to split the group and allocating an undergraduate student ambassador to the group.

If you would like to bring a group of students to this event please complete the online application form as soon as possible.

Year 10 taster day online application form: Year 10 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 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 10 taster day please contact Jenny Sharp on jsharp@plymouth.ac.uk

Year 12 Taster Day - "What can I do with my A Level Mathematics?", Wednesday 30th June and Tuesday 8th July 2026.

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 TWednesday 30th June and Tuesday 8th July 2026.

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