Angus Grogono, AC for Barnet, Enfield, Haringey, Harrow and Waltham Forest
In response to requests at the London North Teacher Network Meeting in March, the AMSP has run weekly problem-solving workshops for Year 12 students at the London Academy of Excellence Tottenham. The sessions are aimed at students who are keen to develop their problem-solving skills and might take one of the maths aptitude tests in Year 13.
The workshops have been running since the end of the spring term, disrupted only one by the gridlock of a Spurs home game (the academy is adjacent to the stadium!). 25 to 30 students have attended weekly and demonstrated that there is a huge appetite for “tough but profound” problems. Each week focuses on a different mathematical area. One student commented at the end of the course: “Thank you sir – you have just opened my mind!”