SATRO hosted
its annual Maths Challenge across two dates at George Abbot School, Guildford
on 25th February and 3rd March 2016. This after-school
event is aimed at sixth form students from schools around Surrey and
neighbouring counties, and challenges them to tackle mathematical problems,
including concepts taught at A-Level, as well as ideas which the students might
expect to meet should they continue to study maths at degree level.
In
addition to the Challenge element, the students were treated to talks from
staff at Unum on how studying maths at university can be an excellent choice
for a career, explaining that there is far more to maths than meets the eye!
The
event was sponsored by Unum, Ernest Cook Trust, Surrey County Councillor Keith
Taylor and The Community Foundation for Surrey in partnership with Electronic
Arts. Susan Sanderson, spokesperson for Unum, had this to say:
“It was an honour to be asked to
support SATRO with their annual Maths Challenge for the third year
running. Education and supporting the
development of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and
employability skills of young people within our local communities is a core
element of Unum’s Corporate Social Responsibility programme. Our actuaries
really enjoyed the opportunity to speak to the students about their journey
from University to Unum and we hope their presentation gave them some valuable
insights into where a degree in maths could take them.”
The
highest scoring teams from the two evenings were the Sutton Grammar School for
Boys, Sutton and Tiffin School, Kingston.
83% of students who attended the event said
they were more interested in studying maths at a high level as a result of
participating; 93% said they had increased their understanding of how maths
might be useful in a career.
Less than 20% of students continue
the study of mathematics beyond the age of 16. This comes at a time when findings
from the Economic & Social Research Council report that at age 14 students
today have less mathematical understanding than in the 1970s.
