Extra/super curricular maths at Senior School

[Nightingale987]

Wondering if anyone has any suggestions of extra/super curricular maths opportunities for DD who is very able mathematician in first few years of secondary school? She already takes part in UKMT Challenges and Parallel Maths which she really enjoys. Any other suggestions of activities/ workshops/ camps/ work experience etc either online or in person that are accessible to children at Independent Schools? A lot of things run by Universities are specifically for State School pupils. Anything perhaps to encourage girls who are interested in studying Maths at A Level / University? Not looking for books or courses or anything very expensive. We’re based in London. Thanks very much for any suggestions.

Why not books? Matt Parker's Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension is really good.
She could also try watching some Numberphile videos.

I read this once:
Free play is essential for proper development. When academics become the major focus, children miss out on learning how to socialise, take risks, and solve problems.
Let her enjoy maths without it becoming everything.

Thanks for your messages. Sorry, the reference to ‘not books’ was more that we already have quite a few/know of many interesting ones. I was just wondering about other ideas that I haven’t come across. Not looking for anything full-on or overly structured that stops her from enjoying being a child, just something interesting related to maths to do occasionally. Numberphile is great, thanks for the suggestion.

Some other great YouTube channels are "Infinite series", "3blue1brown", "Mathologer"

This playlist is if all the videos by Infinite Series. They should be watched in backwards order: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa6IE8XPP_glwNKmFfl2tEL0b7E9D0WRr&si=xKMiWlrdtsUQJXZl

This playlist by 3blue1brown covers some basic high school maths: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZHQObOWTQDP5CVelJJ1bNDouqrAhVPev&si=CRyGR4nyINbfC9

https://ukmt.org.uk/enrichment/summer-schools
https://www.kingsmathsschool.com/summer-schools these two are something to look for around year 10. Other maths schools will have similar programs.

https://ukmt.org.uk/enrichment/mentoring - have her do the sample problems from each programme (Pythagoras, Hypatia, etc) to see what the correct starting point is and ask her teacher to sign her up.

https://www.londonsmp.co.uk/ - they have in person classes in London

See if there are any maths circles running in your area. Also Royal Institution masterclasses.

Check out the Mathematical Olympiad for Girls (MOG): https://ukmt.org.uk/mathematical-olympiad-for-girls

Look at nrich: https://nrich.maths.org/students/secondary

I have 2 kids. One is super obsessed with maths..gets alot of this free play you speak of but would choose maths over anything given the chance. I find it so patronising posts like this when you do not know these children. They are seeking the subject they love, they love it. Does not mean parents are not allowing them to do anything else.
Such a weird stereotype that parents of gifted kids have them tied to one thing. They choose what they love.
You don't get comments like this about sporty or arty kids funnily enough.
Please stop assuming parents of academically gifted kids do not do anything varied with them. So annoying.

Thanks @Muu9 and @Recoba for your great suggestions, really appreciated.

Will definitely explore the YouTube channels.

UKMT Summer School sounds great. Does anyone know how many children get selected each year? Thought I read somewhere there was only about 100 places each year - how many people does top 1.5% equate to in IMC? Is that roughly same as getting into one of the Intermediate Olympiads?

Also, how likely are you to get a UKMT mentor if you apply from an independent school?

Unfortunately I have already contacted the Royal Institution and we don’t live near any local masterclasses but DD has attended some interesting talks/summer workshops there before. Am keeping an eye out for local Maths Circles as that would be great.

Thanks so much for the suggestions.

I understand the summer school is a lottery thing. Regarding the books you mentioned, if she could read more times and understand everything, it will be very helpful.

You only need a mentor for levels after Archimedes.
How does she do on the Junior maths challenge? Junior Kangaroo?

If money is the issue with books, I can send you some PDFs. Mathdash and Alcumus are two free sites with adaptive competition math practice

1.5% of IMC test takers is approximately 3300. They try to balance the state school to private school ratio and the boy to girl ratio. The former would be a disadvantage for her, the latter would be an advantage for her. The best way to maximize the odds is to take the IMC every year starting from when she can do well enough and put her gender in correctly.

Here's a free course on the IMC: https://courses.mathsaurus.com/courses/get-ready-for-the-intermediate-maths-challenge

Here are some past papers from the US math challenge for students in y9 and below: https://artofproblemsolving.com/wiki/index.php/AMC_8_Problems_and_Solutions
https://live.poshenloh.com/past-contests
I suggest she take one or two full length practice exams and, based on her results, focus future practice on the problem number range where she gets some correct and some wrong.

Thanks very much @Muu9 for the links and the suggestions of resources available online, that is really helpful and will be great to explore.

If there are interesting books anyone would particularly recommend that would be great to hear too as there will be ones I haven’t heard about.

My DD is starting Year 7 in September so it is great to get ideas of what will be available to her over first few years of Secondary. She has taken part in the Junior Maths Challenge and got through to the Olympiad last year and again this year. Her Senior School have said they will let her take part in the Intermediate Maths Challenge before Year 9. Think she will have good chance of getting into follow on rounds however know entry to the summer school is only from Year 10 and chance of getting a place is slim.
I am going to ask about the UKMT mentoring and see what the school says as that is something she could potentially get involved in now as far as Archimedes Level.

The books I recommend are by art of problem solving.
Can she do this placement test?
https://data.artofproblemsolving.com//products/diagnostics/intermediate-algebra-pretest.pdf
The UKMT also has textbooks although I'm less familiar with them.

That,
find a fun maths club. Still what she enjoys. No “maths learning” just a fun group sharing what they like.

would she be interested in learning a musical instrument? I know some very good mathematicians who are also great musicians (my DS is one). It’s then a hobby and a social circle for life (through groups and bands).

Read op.

Check out the specialist maths schools that are run in conjunction with top unis.

In London you have the choice of Imperial College and Kings College. Kings has the best A level results and highest Oxbridge entry rate of any school in the country I believe. There's also Cambridge and Surrey maths schools not too far away.

All these schools run various outreach programmes, summer camps, weekly maths circles etc. They also do similar for sciences.

They are geared towards under represented groups like girls, kids from lower income families etc. AFAIK, the activities above are not limited to state school pupils, although full time entry to the schools (they are 6th form only) precludes most independent pupils.

But some children love learning. I was like this as a child, so is DS. Learning was what I enjoyed. I liked playing too.

Loving maths and learning doesn't preclude doing other things too.

Of course it is true, just not what op asked though.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maths_school#List_of_current_and_approved_future_maths_schools

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maths_school#List_of_current_and_approved_future_maths_schools

Why wouldn't a Y10/11 student be doing GCSEs? Is she in IB MYP?