Maths Camp

On Friday 22nd March 2019 at 1800 hours thirty five intrepid Higher Maths candidates and Mrs Bonar, Mrs Gallagher, Miss Somerville, Ms Earl and Miss Docherty of the Mathematics Department headed off to Kilbowie Outdoor Centre for a weekend of Mathematics and outdoor activities.  The pupils opted into this Maths Camp to help improve their understanding of higher maths.  The pupils identified areas for development and activities were directed accordingly.  Pupils arrived at the centre about 9pm on Friday and we settled. The next morning the group started with tutorial sessions on circle, differentiation, quadratic theory, trigonometry and (for those at the top of their Maths game) A/B type exam questions.

In the afternoon all pupils took part in a water adventure. They were put into groups of 8 and had to work as a team to tie two canoes together and then they had to navigate a route around the water picking up markers along the way. They took this very seriously and they were even swimming through the freezing waters to beat their rivals.

In the evening after a hearty meal the pupils were split into groups of four and after some humorous team building they participated in a “mathiversity” challenge and a very heated and fast Maths relay quiz culminating in an overall winning team of Dylan Anderson, Joseph Lorimer, Christy Paterson and Mia Paterson.

All this hard work meant the pupils had worked up an appetite and they wolfed down some Chinese food before settling down to some music.

After a good night’s sleep the maths began again at 9am with a bout of speed dating with past paper questions and again we had a “best male date” Dylan Anderson & Ibrahim Iqbal and “best female date” Amy Ward and Sophie Carus.

The pupils and staff thoroughly enjoyed their time away and pupils feel they have a better idea of their strengths and weaknesses and know what to focus on to revise for their final exam in May.  The pupils were a credit to the school and were highly praised by the staff at the centre.  The maths department would like to express their thanks to the mathematical society of Edinburgh as their financial support meant that the cost to pupils was greatly reduced.