- In the past we ran successful maths sessions at numerous summer schools for gifted and talented students (in Russia in 1996-2005, in the UK in 2009-2012), see the programme and feedback on schools 2010-2012 below.
- We now focus on our distance courses because deep learning in maths often takes months and even years.
- Learning from our detailed feedback on regular homework is more beneficial than attending a short course.
Residential Master Maths summer schools for year 12 students
General information about schools
- What are the schools about?
We review areas where international rivals are
ahead many British students, e.g. how to write justified mathematical proofs.
You will also collaborate in a small team on a joint project of your choice. - How does it help?
We teach how to effectively solve hard multi-step problems.
We are happy to give academic references to strengthen your UCAS application. - Possible evening activities:
free time, preparing a maths project in a team,
watching TV or science documentaries, outdoor sports: football, volleyball.
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5-day school timetable in the past
- Topics:
combinatorics, Pythagoras' theorem and Diaphontine equations,
pigeonhole and extremum principles, modular arithmetic and cryptography.
| Monday | Activity |
|---|---|
| 13.00-14.00 | registration and lunch in the college |
| 14.00-14.20 | introduction, overview of school activities |
| 14.30-15.10 | combinatorics and probability, session 1 |
| 15.20-16.00 | combinatorics and probability, session 2 |
| 16.00-17.00 | team building exercise: paper towers |
| 17.00-17.40 | combinatorics and probability, session 3 |
| 17.50-18.30 | combinatorics and probability, session 4 |
| 18.30-19.00 | tour around the college |
| 19.00-20.00 | dinner in the college |
| 20.00-22.30 | team games, maths movies, TV or free time |
| Tuesday | Activity |
|---|---|
| 08.00-09.00 | breakfast in the college |
| 09.00-09.40 | combinatorics and probability, session 5 |
| 09.50-10.30 | combinatorics and probability, self-assessment |
| 10.30-11.30 | one-to-one consultation and exploring projects |
| 11.30-12.10 | beyond Pythagoras' theorem, session 1 |
| 12.20-13.00 | beyond Pythagoras' theorem, session 2 |
| 13.00-14.00 | lunch in the college |
| 14.00-14.40 | beyond Pythagoras' theorem, session 3 |
| 14.50-15.30 | beyond Pythagoras' theorem, session 4 |
| 15.30-16.30 | one-to-one consultation and exploring projects |
| 16.30-18.00 | crossnumber challenge in small teams |
| 18.00-19.00 | tour around science other colleges |
| 19.00-20.00 | dinner in the college |
| 20.00-22.30 | team games, maths movies, TV or free time |
| Wednesday | Activity |
|---|---|
| 08.00-09.00 | breakfast in the college |
| 09.00-09.40 | beyond Pythagoras' theorem, session 5 |
| 09.50-10.30 | beyond Pythagoras' theorem, self-assessment |
| 10.30-11.30 | one-to-one consultation and exploring projects |
| 11.30-12.10 | pigeonhole and extremum principles, session 1 |
| 12.20-13.00 | pigeonhole and extremum principles, session 2 |
| 13.00-14.00 | lunch in the college |
| 14.00-16.00 | exploring Durham cathedral and town centre |
| 16.00-17.00 | guided tour in Durham castle (a college) |
| 17.30-18.10 | pigeonhole and extremum principles, session 3 |
| 18.20-19.00 | pigeonhole and extremum principles, session 4 |
| 19.00-20.00 | dinner in the college |
| 20.00-22.30 | team games, maths movies, TV or free time |
| Thursday | Activity |
|---|---|
| 08.00-09.00 | breakfast in the college |
| 09.00-09.40 | pigeonhole and extremum principles, session 5 |
| 09.50-10.30 | pigeonhole and extremum principles, self-assessment |
| 10.30-11.30 | one-to-one consultation and exploring projects |
| 11.30-12.10 | modular arithmetic and cryptography, session 1 |
| 12.20-13.00 | modular arithmetic and cryptography, session 2 |
| 13.00-14.00 | lunch in the college |
| 14.00-14.40 | modular arithmetic and cryptography, session 3 |
| 14.50-15.30 | modular arithmetic and cryptography, session 4 |
| 15.30-16.30 | one-to-one consultation and exploring projects |
| 16.30-17.10 | modular arithmetic and cryptography, session 5 |
| 17.20-18.00 | modular arithmetic and cryptography, self-assessment |
| 18.00-19.00 | practice of oral presentations in small teams |
| 19.00-20.00 | dinner in the college |
| 20.00-22.30 | team games, maths movies, TV or free time |
| Friday | Activity |
|---|---|
| 08.00-09.00 | breakfast in the college |
| 09.00-09.45 | oral presentations in small teams, session 1 |
| 10.05-10.50 | oral presentations in small teams, session 2 |
| 11.10-11.55 | oral presentations in small teams, session 3 |
| 12.15-13.00 | oral presentations in small teams, session 4 |
| 13.00-14.00 | lunch in the college |
| 14.00-14.30 | final maths revision and awarding diplomas |
| 14.30-15.00 | anonymous questionnaires and group photo |
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Alumni of summer schools 2010-2012
- We have run a mathematics summer school in July 2010,
two summer schools in July 2011, one school in July 2012. - University destinations of students who attended
our past summer schools:
years replies Cambridge Oxford Imperial Warwick Durham all 56 8 7 8 11 11 2011 38 4 6 4 7 9 2010 18 4 1 4 4 2 - We contact students more than a year after their summer school.
So not all students can reply if they have changed their e-mail. - The university destinations not counted in the table above include
London School of Economics, University College London and also
Universities of Bath, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Nottingham, York.
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Student feedback on summer schools: 2012 | 2011 | 2010
Students e-mailed us one year after the summer school 2012
- "Just thought that I should let you know that I made my Oxford offer (in fact, I managed to score over it). I got A*A*AA in Maths, Further Maths, Physics and French, and will be going to University College. I'm sure that the week's Maths course, which you ran, helped me achieve this goal."
- "I have secured a place at the university of Manchester to study a joint honours degree in mathematics and computer science. I also had a place at the university of York which I declined. I did find your course extremely useful into giving me an insight into mathematics at university. It was also a major topic of conversations at all of my interviews. So thank you for that!"
- "I will be attending Warwick university this year, hopefully for a masters. Thankyou :)"
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Students anonymously submitted their comments at the end of the summer school 2012
- "I liked learning how to write and understand theorems and proofs, because we don't get an opportunity to do this at school."
- "I liked the topics studied and the teaching method, i.e. a problem set at the beginning of sessions followed by explanations."
- "I liked combinatorics and the pigeonhole principle. I felt that the amount of time we spent on each was good."
- "I liked the team building exercise on day 1, lots of free time, good food and the teacher."
- "I liked learning new mathematical topics, other than those included in the school curriculum. I really enjoyed the opportunity to work in a group to investigate and create a presentation on a new topic."
- "I liked the subjects and the explanations. It was really fun! I think 5 days would have been better, but four days was really good."
- "I liked the chance to answer problems myself and then see where I could improve. I enjoyed the teaching and learning about combinatorics, and the trip to Durham to get a sense of the town."
- "I liked the not so obvious proofs that are very simple. The breaks worked fairly well."
- "I liked the variety of subjects we learned about, and how problems that seemed hard actually had simple solutions. I liked the walk into town to split up the lessons, and how help was available when needed."
- "I liked flexibility of evening activities and length of sessions. Overall very enjoyable!!"
- "I liked the structure of days, amount that we learned and the difficulty of the concepts we learned. Overall, really enjoyed it."
- "I liked the speed at which we progressed and how it was all close together so as to make sure you did not forget."
- "I liked learning the new material, looking back at previous sessions to not forget anything, the length of the sessions, the presentations, the olympiad and the crossnumber challenge."
- "I liked the lessons, they were very informative, and feedback was also available on request. I also enjoyed the free time and walk."
- "I liked regular breaks, topics, flexibility, crossnumber and my teacher(!)"
- More student comments are in two scanned anonymous questionnaires (pdf, 1 page).
- Some local school teachers attended our sessions and e-mailed their thanks: "I am writing to thank you for your kindness in letting Rachel and myself sit in the morning session yesterday. We realise that it is probably unusual for teachers to visit and because of this we are especially grateful. The visit however did fit in very well with our school's enrichment week programme. We both enjoyed the session very much and thank you once again for your cooperation. We certainly hope to send more students in the future."
- Our comments: we are grateful to our students for their advice to improve, e.g. we plan longer breaks between sessions in future 5-day schools, more problems for training, short self-assessments instead of one olympiad, special time for one-to-one consultations, flexibility with guided tours and more time for project preparations.
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Students e-mailed us one year after the summer school 2011
- "I have been accepted at Kings college in the university of Cambridge for physical natural sciences. Your help in mathematics was surely instrumental to this. Thank you for a brilliant course, i recommend it to everyone."
- "Again thank you very much for the maths course last summer, it was indeed very insightful! I shall be studying BSc Economics at London School of Economics and Political Sciences (LSE)"
- "I am off to Edinburgh to study mathematics, I am so excited! Thank you so much once again for the week last summer it taught me a lot and i will always be very grateful as it definitely helped with my ucas application!"
- "Thanks again for running the course. I am going to be studying Economics at Warwick from October."
- "I'll be taking up a place at Lincoln college, Oxford. The summer course was really valuable, really inspiring me to follow a course in mathematics. I have recommended the summer school to my careers advisor at school and she makes sure all the further mathematicians at my school know about it!"
- "I decided in the end to apply for courses in biochemistry and will be starting at the University of Glasgow next month. Thanks again for organising the summer course which I enjoyed and found very useful."
- "I am to attend LSE to study mathematics with economics, thank you for the course."
- "I got into Nottingham University to study pure maths! Thank you very much, especially for the reference for my Ucas application."
- "I received a place and will now be going to Warwick university to study Maths in October. I really enjoyed the summer course and it helped me."
- "I have been accepted to study maths at St John's College, Cambridge. Thank you for all your help at the summer school and for the reference you wrote for my application to university. Thanks again."
- "I am delighted to tell you I have gain a place to do General Engineering MEng at Durham University. I am sure that the summer course was a great help in gaining the place. It certainly help me choose a University!"
- "I have successfully gained my first choice place to study Maths and Physics at the University of Bath. I was very pleased to get an A* in maths and I am looking forward to studying it further!"
- "I really enjoyed the summer course last year. It began to make me think at a higher level which certainly proved very useful over the following year. I have a place at Durham University to read Physics which I am really pleased with! Thank you for all of the help that the summer course gave me in getting there."
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Students submitted their comments at the end of the summer school 2011
- "I really enjoyed the course. The people were really nice and it was good to meet other young enthusiastic academic people."
- "Loved it, amazing experience. Learnt a lot!"
- "Overall, I found the week highly enjoyable and useful in allowing me to make a better decision on which subject to choose."
- "I did enjoy the course, it gave me a real insight into life at a university and the way which they tackle problems. I also enjoyed meeting new people and now I know what to expect."
- "I enjoyed the course, and felt there was a good balance between mathematical and non-mathematical activities."
- "The course was well balanced between individual and group work, and for getting a sample of university life."
- "This week has been really good. I found it challenging and it made me think - a really great experience."
- "It was amazing! A little strict at night times. Really amazing course. May be some more maths. Extra longer course, more days."
- "I liked the lectures and particularly the project."
- "I very much enjoyed the course and found the material covered interesting and stimulating. I particularly enjoyed working on my project about projective geometry. Everyone was very friendly and helpful."
- "I enjoyed the lectures and the chance to learn beyond the A-level syllabus."
- "It was enjoyable. Meeting new people proved beneficial. It challenged our understandings."
- "I really enjoyed the week, the lectures were really interesting although quite intense. It was nice to watch TV."
- "I enjoyed it and would say I learned a lot in terms of how to present my mathematical working, and different ways of thinking about problems."
- "Overall enjoyed the course - food was great! The lecture notes we were given were very good."
- "I thoroughly enjoyed the course and many aspects of the course were interesting. It has helped me sample university life which is why I applied. I would not change anything."
- "I would recommend the course to anyone who wants to study mathematics, and I enjoyed the course :)"
- "Enjoyed it, I would definitely recommend it. Possibly longer if possible, it is very useful."
- "I think that the course helped, it gave me an insight of how challenging university can be, yet enjoyable also."
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Students e-mailed us one year after the summer school 2010
- "I'm going to UCL to do Maths. Got an offer for Imperial which I'm sure having the summer school on my application helped, but missed by offer slightly."
- "I am coming to Durham! Looking forward to starting in a months time. I have always been a chemist and I took the maths course to experience student living in Durham and the style of teaching at university. I had a brilliant time and would definitely recommend the course to future school students."
- "I'm going to study maths at Cambridge (I'm sure the summer school played a part in getting me the place!)"
- "I'll be starting at cambridge doing natural sciences in october (although really i'm only focused on physics). Hope that helps and that the summer schools going well, i really enjoyed it."
- "I am delighted to say that I have got into Durham University to study Maths. Hope to see you there."
- "I am starting at Oxford in October. I actually got the best A-level results in the country - 8 A*s, including maths, further maths and additional further maths. Thanks again for all your help in the whole admissions process."
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Students submitted their comments at the end of the summer school 2010
- "It was very helpful in that it helped me confirm maths is the right choice for me and it has also made me better prepared and more confident for life at university."
- "I enjoyed learning about proofs and working out challenging problems."
- "I really enjoyed the opportunity to stay at a university and briefly experience the style of living. The maths sessions were excellent. I would include fewer breaks and more maths next time."
- "I particularly enjoyed learning about new maths concepts in the sessions. Overall the course was very well done."
- "A very useful insight into university-level maths."
- "The course was very good - experienced university life and learning. The evening entertainment was great (especially allowing us to watch the world cup)."
- "I enjoyed this week as it has shown me what maths would be like."
- "I have enjoyed my time at Durham, and the course was enjoyable."
- "I had a nice week, the teacher was really good. If I could change it I would bring a football from home."
- "I enjoyed the course because it not only showed me what it would be like to live in a university, it also showed me what the learning would be like."
- "The course was thoroughly enjoyable, providing me with the opportunity to sample university life, expand & develop my knowledge of mathematics as well as meeting new people & making friends."
- "The week was very useful in demonstrating the format of lectures and university life and living in halls of residence was a great experience. The group bonded over enjoyable activities making the course both informative and fun."
- "I have really enjoyed myself this week, it has been great to meeting other people who love Maths and see what Maths at university is like. Thank you!"
- "Course was excellent! Lectures were challenging but not scary or off putting. Evening entertainment was great and it was useful to see the university and town. Everyone was so helpful and friendly!"
- "I really enjoyed the course, the lectures were really good - challenging but do-able!"
- "I did enjoy the course and I would not change anything."
- "I found it very enjoyable, very friendly environment and the course content was very useful. Very nice people. Overall a great week!"
- "I really enjoyed experiencing university life and how maths will be like at uni. I've learnt to think about maths in a different way."
- "Great week! - met so many people who are all lovely and interested in maths! Food was great - Delicious cakes!"
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