July 2018
As we approach the end of term once more, some year 9 and 10 students had a (very hot) day out at Greenwich university. They took part in mathematical games and did a treasure hunt around the grounds. We attended 3 lectures on "The Maths of Games", "Maths in fashion" and the very mouth watering "Maths in chocolate fountains". Each one was good, but the highlight for the children was getting to use the chocolate fountain at the end of the latter lecture.
The children were introduced to many aspects of how maths is applied in the real world. They looked at the "Travelling Salesman problem" and what liquids you could put in a chocolate fountain, which included ketchup or blood! Yuk! It was very hot, but our children were very well behaved. They put several other schools to shame. I was very proud of them. |
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May 2018
Some of our most able KS5 mathematicians are up to all sorts. Yusuf Mouaici, Tom Mc Turk, Jamie Cuthbert, Horia Pacuraru and Filip Stroka, are all applying for the Problem Solving Matters course. The Problem Solving Matters course supports students wishing to study Maths at university or who wish to improve their problem solving skills in preparation for university. The course will be specifically useful to students wishing to prepare for the Maths Admissions Test (MAT) and the Test of Mathematics for University Admission (TMUA). The course is available to all students wishing to improve their problem solving techniques, regardless of their future ambition (it is not just for Oxford/Imperial/Warwick/Durham hopefuls). The course includes three face to face study days (scheduled for Saturdays) at a variety of universities, summer assignments which will be marked by their mentor and online follow up sessions in the Autumn term. Also, Tom and Jamie will be attending the Mathematics Masterclass celebration event at the Royal Institution in London, where there will be talks from popular mathematicians on exciting areas of mathematics as well as puzzles and a lunchtime competition.
April 2018
June 2017
On Wednesday the 28th of June we took 28 students down to Greenwich University to experience the Greenwich Festival of Mathematics! Yes, there is such a thing! It was great and the kids loved it. We watched talks on Game Theory and the Enigma machine. The former showed them the maths behind games such as Monopoly, Play your cards right (without "Brucey") and lots more. If any of the students start asking about a maths contract to do the housework be very careful parents! The Enigma talk was good too. We saw an actual Enigma machine and learnt all about the maths involved inside it. After each talk, the students explored various rooms within the university that contained lots of puzzles, demonstrations and games. In the courtyard the students had the chance to walk on custard. Yes, you read right, walk on custard. If they jumped up and down and kept moving they would not sink, but if they had paused for more than a moment they'd have not only sunk, but been stuck! In is because it was mixed in a ratio to form a non-Newtonion fluid. The videos and photos are all below!
Walking on custard video 1 Walking on custard video 2 Walking on custard video 3
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April 2017
The essence of calculus
Ever fancied learning the basics of calculus? Click here if so!
Ever fancied learning the basics of calculus? Click here if so!
March 2017
Where would we be without maths?
We ran a competition last term asking students to respond to this question. The responses were great and came in the form of essays, videos and presentations. Mr Hordern has picked his 3 favourites below and they win vouchers as promised. Please click on the blue links below and let him know if you agree or disagree with his choice.
1st place: Moritz Hamm, year 7 - The Kidney stone
2nd place: Maya Holmes, year 8 - Baking
3rd place: Daisy Wells, year 7 - The golden Ratio
Click here to see the other finalists' work: Rhiannon Kaia Kensel Ruby Riley Bischal Beth
Y10 Maths Feast
On Friday 10 March, Thomas Tallis hosted the annual South East London Maths Feast for the 3rd year running. This is a challenging team competition testing maths, teamwork and communication skills. The Thomas Tallis teams comprised eight of our highest achieving Year 10 students, who competed against teams from ten other schools. The rounds consisted of various types of problems, including comprehension tests (reading and understanding a new area of maths), problem solving and Countdown-style questions. The Thomas Tallis team did very well, winning one round and coming third in another. Our thanks for a successful and enjoyable day go to all participating students and the staff of the schools involved.had a few things going on last term, here are some of the highlights. Photos are below the text.
Pi day
For the 2nd year in a row we celebrated Pi day on 3.14 (March 14th). We built up to the event with heats, then on the day itself a student from each year group recalled Pi to as many decimal places as they could on the concourse during lunch. Last year's runner up, 8TO's Xueen Li, managed to go one step further this year and win. Last year Tom McTurk won with an amazing 110 decimal places, however Xueen had upped his game and recited it to an unbelievable 138 decimal places! Photos below.
We ran a competition last term asking students to respond to this question. The responses were great and came in the form of essays, videos and presentations. Mr Hordern has picked his 3 favourites below and they win vouchers as promised. Please click on the blue links below and let him know if you agree or disagree with his choice.
1st place: Moritz Hamm, year 7 - The Kidney stone
2nd place: Maya Holmes, year 8 - Baking
3rd place: Daisy Wells, year 7 - The golden Ratio
Click here to see the other finalists' work: Rhiannon Kaia Kensel Ruby Riley Bischal Beth
Y10 Maths Feast
On Friday 10 March, Thomas Tallis hosted the annual South East London Maths Feast for the 3rd year running. This is a challenging team competition testing maths, teamwork and communication skills. The Thomas Tallis teams comprised eight of our highest achieving Year 10 students, who competed against teams from ten other schools. The rounds consisted of various types of problems, including comprehension tests (reading and understanding a new area of maths), problem solving and Countdown-style questions. The Thomas Tallis team did very well, winning one round and coming third in another. Our thanks for a successful and enjoyable day go to all participating students and the staff of the schools involved.had a few things going on last term, here are some of the highlights. Photos are below the text.
Pi day
For the 2nd year in a row we celebrated Pi day on 3.14 (March 14th). We built up to the event with heats, then on the day itself a student from each year group recalled Pi to as many decimal places as they could on the concourse during lunch. Last year's runner up, 8TO's Xueen Li, managed to go one step further this year and win. Last year Tom McTurk won with an amazing 110 decimal places, however Xueen had upped his game and recited it to an unbelievable 138 decimal places! Photos below.
KS5 |
KS3 and KS4 |
What comes after maths and further maths?
The university offers received by our students for summer 2015 to study maths, maths and computing, or engineering include Warwick, Cambridge, Imperial, Bath, Kings, Bristol, Birmingham, Exeter, Newcastle, Nottingham, Manchester and UCL, to name but a few. Our year 13 further maths results last summer were in approximately the top 10% of those achieved nationally. We have sent students of all ability levels on many different courses and activities throughout the year. These have included for example C1/C2 workshops at Greenwich University and STEP and MAT preparation at UCL. Things are looking good for our current yr 12 further mathematicians too. I have just completed supporting references for Sohil, Melika and Sophie who have all applied for a place on the week long course at UCL. This is cncouraging widening participation and UK undergraduate recruitment. There are only 20 places available so they may not all get places, but at least they are showing enthusiasm to aim high for their mathematical studies! Olympic success! Our post-16 mathematicians did exceptionally well on the UKMT Senior Maths Challenge this year and several students will receiving bronze awards. Five of our further mathematicians deserve a special mention for their outstanding results. Sophie Thapa and Ben Tu of year 12 and Jivan Pal and Kim Craig of year 13 achieved silver certificates. Amlan Banaji did so well, that he has qualified for the British Mathematical Olympiad, which put his result in the top 1000 in the country. For this success he will go through to the next round of the Challenge and have the pleasure of sitting a three and a half hour maths paper! A public thank you! I would like to publicly thank one of our most successful ex-students, Leilah Forward, who is about to start her second year at Mansfield College, Oxford. She has been coming in to school and working with three current year 13 mathematicians who are applying to Oxford, Cambridge or Imperial University this term. As a group they have been looking at MAT (Mathematics Admission Test) questions, getting ready for the examination and enjoying the challenge of discussing some very advanced mathematical problems. Last Friday they worked through their lunch hour together as they were having so much fun! Excellence through challenge. Some our most able mathematicians in the sixth form are really being put through their paces at the moment: A small group of year 12 and 13 students have just started attending the King's Factor, being held in the early evening at King's in the Strand. It is a widening participation initiative set up by the Department of Mathematics, giving students the opportunity to tackle challenging maths problems which enrich and develop mathematical thinking. Three of our year 13 further mathematicians will be spending two Saturdays at UCL, working on MAT preparation materials. The Mathematics Admissions Test is one of the necessary admissions requirements for students applying to Oxford or Imperial Universities to study maths, computer science or their joint degrees. We have also just been allocated a place in the UKMT Senior Team Challenge heat being held at Queen Mary's in London. Two year 12s and two year 13s will be representing our school at this event. I will keep you informed as to how they get on. |
Year 7 Maths days - September 2015
Go to the KS3 page for details, photos and videos! Year 7 Number Day - Friday the 5th of December Look at this powerpoint for some information. There will also be an assembly telling students all about it too. We've got some great prizes, so good luck with fundraising and the Number Hunt! How to help my child to learn the times tables Encourage your child to become more confident with their times tables, by playing tables recall games with them and testing each other, maybe when you are on a car journey or together at home. There are materials on the mathsisfun website that can be printed out and made into posters to be displayed in the bedroom or around the home. There are also different tricks and tips you can use to aid learning of tables, because unfortunately, memorising all the times tables is the ultimate aim! There are numerous fun ways to support the learning of timetables on the mymaths website. Your child will know the school password and log in details. Here is one example of a great game where tables are used in an amusing way, called the sum bash game, another is snakey sums. Thomas Tallis School has celebrated the 25th anniversary of the World Wide Web on the 5th of March 2014. Find details here. Hour of Code
Who says Maths isn't fun?
Multiplication Grand prix
Maths games and quizzes Try this for a test of your Maths under pressure! Maths scope NSPCC Number dayIn the first week of December the Maths department embraced Number day. Students took part in a variety of Numeracy tasks and raised awareness and money for the NSPCC and Childline.
Please click here to see a video of one of the activities. Mathstallis now has a YouTube channel!Click on this link to see videos of fun Maths going on in lessons.
Or look at this video to see how beautiful Maths is and how it is everywhere! |
Curve stitching and live music!
How cool is this? Live music and Maths all in 1 place!
Watch this video, it's amazing!
On the concourse on the last Friday of term there was a live music performance in front of a Mathematical piece of art work. It used straight lines, which were carefully attached to the framework of the walkway to create the illusion of curves. This is a giant version of a mathematical activity we do in class called Curved Stitching.
The Curve Stitching Club met weekly and students practiced creating smaller curve stitching designs, often using simple number patterns to do this. Some patterns produced designs such as the cardiod and the nephroid.
Students discovered a famous maths theorem for themselves whilst at the club; Pythagoras Theorem. They used this to calculate the exact lengths of all of the straight lines required for the giant curve stitching. They practiced squares and square roots, applying the formula and also using a scientific calculator correctly. This meant that they could cut the ropes to the correct length in preparation for the final Curve Stitching piece.
Watch this video, it's amazing!
On the concourse on the last Friday of term there was a live music performance in front of a Mathematical piece of art work. It used straight lines, which were carefully attached to the framework of the walkway to create the illusion of curves. This is a giant version of a mathematical activity we do in class called Curved Stitching.
The Curve Stitching Club met weekly and students practiced creating smaller curve stitching designs, often using simple number patterns to do this. Some patterns produced designs such as the cardiod and the nephroid.
Students discovered a famous maths theorem for themselves whilst at the club; Pythagoras Theorem. They used this to calculate the exact lengths of all of the straight lines required for the giant curve stitching. They practiced squares and square roots, applying the formula and also using a scientific calculator correctly. This meant that they could cut the ropes to the correct length in preparation for the final Curve Stitching piece.
Year 7 puzzle day
All of year 7 took part in a puzzle day in July. They tried out lots of different puzzles and Mathematical games as they moved around the sports hall. Thank you to Mr Ormston and Ms Myers for setting it all up! The puzzles were paid for as part of the "Creative Learning" programme and will now be used annually for this event, as well as in lessons throughout the year. Look under the key stage 3 section for more details and some videos.
Alchemy and Delicious Pi
The 3rd fanzine is now online. Click here to view it and the previous editions. These have provided students with an opportunity to work collaboratively and think in an inter-disciplinary way, whilst getting support from industry professionals. They were also able to create a real world product to a very high standard which is appreciated beyond the school community. If you would like a hard copy let Mr Nicholls or Mr Hordern.
Thanks to Mr Nicholls, Mr Bennett and Mr Smythe for their support and the students from Years 10-13 who made an active contribution. Also we would not have been able to complete the project without the wonderful work of parent governor Emma Warren, writer Hayley Joyes and designer Darryl Daley.
Thanks to Mr Nicholls, Mr Bennett and Mr Smythe for their support and the students from Years 10-13 who made an active contribution. Also we would not have been able to complete the project without the wonderful work of parent governor Emma Warren, writer Hayley Joyes and designer Darryl Daley.
Year 9 Trip to Wrotham
On Friday the 17th of May 2013 Year 9 students were taken to an educational trip to Wrotham. A group of 16 Mentors and 32 students were involved in various low-risk outdoors activities to promote learning of Mathematics in an exciting , fun way. Click here to see a video taken during the day. Find below some pictures.
The Magic of Maths shows !
On Thursday the 2nd of May 2013 Andrew Jeffrey , author and Mathemagician, came to our School to perform his show , the Magic of Maths , to all the students in year 7 , 8 and 9. Andrew is in demand internationally as one of the country’s leading speakers in the field of mathematics education. His books, articles and Magic Maths shows have been featured in numerous education journals and on UK Television.
It was a magical day. Andrew signed copies of his book, Magic for Kids, for our students on the day. A copy is also available in the Thomas Tallis school library. Click here to see a video of a student who shared her views after seeing the Magic show.
Rubik's world record holders!
On Wednesday the 21st of November we took part in the Rubik's cube world record attempt at the O2.
We took 34 students from years 7 to 13 to the O2 today in an attempt to break the world record for the number of people solving a cube in a 30 minute window. The record was 937 and I am pleased to confirm that we broke it! 1414 of us in total solved their cubes.
It was a brilliant day. Click here to see a video, thanks to Mr south and the year 12 media students who came with us.
We took 34 students from years 7 to 13 to the O2 today in an attempt to break the world record for the number of people solving a cube in a 30 minute window. The record was 937 and I am pleased to confirm that we broke it! 1414 of us in total solved their cubes.
It was a brilliant day. Click here to see a video, thanks to Mr south and the year 12 media students who came with us.