Pat Cobb, AC for Bath and North East Somerset, City of Bristol, Gloucestershire, South Gloucestershire, Swindon and Wiltshire (Chippenham area)
Students often hear that Level 3 maths is important for various areas of further study, and our Next Steps course – hosted by the University of Bristol – was a great way of showing some of the mathematical expectations required in the transition to university.
The day started with input from an admissions tutor, before Phil Chaffé and Chris Saker (both AMSP National Team) highlighted to teachers some of the less obvious degree courses that require quantitative skills. The resulting discussion was about how valuable Core Maths, A level Mathematics or Further Mathematics could be to young people going on to study these subjects.
The afternoon shifted focus to the admissions tests for some university courses, looking at both the mathematics papers (STEP, MAT and TMUA) and those for other subjects, such as geography or history – many of which involve a surprising amount of logic and problem solving! It was a busy day, but as one teacher put it, “this is important for the sixth form as a whole, not just the maths department”.