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During the Michaelmas term two pupils attended the
Royal Institutions lectures in New Cross. Efe Igharoro
writes:
Earlier this year, Antony Faithful and myself attended
a series of Mathematics Masterclasses, which took
place on consecutive Saturdays starting on the 19th of
January to the 23rd of March. The Masterclasses were
particularly challenging. Each week having a new topic
of discussion and investigation. Topics such as:
Mathematics and Magic; Dimension; Mathematics BC
and the cost of money. Every week there was a new
lecturer, so in a sense, a fresh start on a new topic. By
attending the classes not only did we learn new methods
of solving questions but we also enhanced our
knowledge in the understanding of mathematics.
There was only one bad thing about the classes and
that was waking up early on a Saturday morning, but it
was certainly worth it, because now we have a better
understanding of mathematical problems and calculations.
To be chosen to attend the Masterclasses is
something a pupil should consider a privilege.
However these classes deserve a lot of commitment
and hard work, but in the end it certainly pays off.
On 30th April, the St Dunstan’s Mathematical Challenge
took place, with pupils from the top 2 sets in Years 7 and
8 attempting to answer the questions in the hour that
they were given. Well done to everyone who took part
and congratulations to the following certificate winners:
Year 8:
Gold: Jack Daniels; Lawrence Vermeir and Elizabeth Skinner
Silver: Raphael Cahill; Vafa Pirjamali; Junior Anin; Joel
Herbert; Emily Hindle; Julius Ebie; Ardo Al-Jaf; Harry Warrener
and Jack Allery
Bronze: Michael Twerdochlib; Robin Lanes; Rose Paine; David
Gray; Thomas Bunzl; Liam Christie; Nadia Ismail; James
Spare;
Daniel Nightingale; Nicola Marshall; Hamesh Patel; Alex
Narramore; Richard Greenhill; Calum Sharma; David McNeil
and
George Woodhams
Year 7:
Gold: Joe Thomas-Bohl
Silver: James Howell; Alex Rush; Jamie Harding and Imogen
Large
Bronze: Clodagh McGuire; Oliver Kay; Nathaniel Campbell-
Brown; William Bott; Seamus Weech; Tim Crosbie; Joe Twinn;
Amy Burnell; Mark Watson; Lucian Howells; Alistair Walker and
Gabriel Adebiyi
Further congratulations go to Jack Daniels who achieved
the highest score in the school.
On Friday the 21st of June three pupils were invited to
the Royal Institution itself. Jermaine Thompson enjoyed
the visit:
Sharla Singh, Manvir Grewal, Sara Bassey and myself
were invited to the Royal Institution with Mr
Kitchingman to listen to some lectures on Science and
Mathematics. First we listened to a lecture about
Nominal numbers and some founders of theories such
as Euler and Germain. Germain’s theory was that if P
was a prime number then 2P+1 must also be a prime
number. An example is if P=3 then 2P+1 is 7 which is
a prime like 3. After the lecture we broke up for lunch
where we had a small quiz with some very challenging
problems. If you got the highest score then you would
win a book called Mathematical Models. After lunch
we listened to another lecture about how the Royal
Institution started up and some famous scientists who
were members of it such as Michael Faraday who
invented the electric motor. By half past three it was
finished and we made our way back to school.
Finally, a previous author of this report, Paul Nicholas,
following his achievement of gaining three grade As in
Mathematics won his place at Christ’s College,
Cambridge. Also last summer in the A & AS-Level examinations
there were nineteen occasions when pupils produced
a maximum score in their units examinations,
including: Christopher Chen four times; Jigna Patel and
Paul Nicholas three times and Sarah Bodenham twice.
Jigna Patel and JPK