We were glad to come back to some impressive exam results; 94% A* - C at GCSE and at ‘A’ level 75 % of grades were A’s or B’s. In addition, fifteen Yr 10 pupils doing their maths GCSE a year early achieved grade A or A*. Many of our former students are in prestigious universities using their mathematical skills for their various courses. We were very impressed by the large number of students who attended revision days in both the Easter and Summer half term breaks.

In September 2006 we welcomed Mrs Lindsey Smith who has joined the maths department bringing with her a wealth of experience having been previously a head of department. We wish her a happy time with us.

This year has, as usual, seen the Inter-House Junior Maths and Intermediate Challenge competitions in which teams from both the senior school and the prep school pitted their wits against one another in a cerebral wrestling match! After closely fought contests, Hollenden and Oxford emerged the overall winners of the junior and intermediate competitions respectively. Thanks to Miss Cacace and Mrs Roseweir for all their hard work in organising this. To enrich the experience of our A level double maths students, we took them to a maths lecture course at the Institute of Education which is part of the University of London. Here they were enthralled by a series of lectures including the mathematics of spinning objects and boomerangs, waves and the electric guitar as well as lateral thinking.

Our brightest Yr 8 and 9 students took part in the UK Maths Trust Team Maths Challenge competing against teams from all over the south of England. This developed their skills in working together as a group in a range of original problems and they put up a creditable performance.

As usual, we were successful in securing places for a number of our Yr 9 pupils to attend the Royal Institution Mathematics Masterclasses series held at Wilsons School. This included lectures and activities on code breaking, statistics in everyday life as well as fractals and dimensions.

The summer holidays, for many staff and pupils may begin with exotic climes, relaxing by the swimming pool etc., but for maths department – not a bit of it. We were treated to a day of stimulating mathematical activity at The University of Greenwich hosted by the UK Mathematics Trust. We were engaged in a range of activities including mathematics and the art of paper folding.