“But why are we learning this?” is a common refrain in Mathematics classrooms. It is a question that I used to try answer in earnest. I would go to great lengths to explain and illustrate with examples from history, the elegant simplicity of this fascinating and powerful subject, often at the expense of any further progress with the topic at hand.

Gradually, of course, it dawns on the young and enthusiastic teacher that this deviation from the norm is exactly what the thirteen year old questioner has in mind all along. (He/she is invariably 13. What is it with year 9?). So, anxious not to allow myself to be bamboozled by this age old trick, my stock reply for a long time became some variation on “Because it's in the syllabus. Now, where were we...”. Too curt you might think. I agree, but if your aim is to 'crack on' and get through that Pythagoras exercise before break, it's a good one. Earlier this week, however, I found myself replying by telling the class to close their books and indulging them with a long tale of ancient puzzles, proofs and the colourful characters who have contributed along the way. My excuse is that I had been reading Martin Gardner's excellent new compilation, “The colossal book of short puzzles and problems”. This is the book that we gave as maths prizes on speech day this year. If you were one of the winners, congratulations! I urge you to read it and have a go at finding your own solutions. As the sleeve notes warn: “Martin Gardner has turned dozens of innocent teenagers into maths professors and thousands of maths professors into innocent youngsters”. It is a shame that many students never learn to appreciate the recreational side of mathematics. However, it is true for all that a good education in this core subject is crucial in the world today. Employers in all walks of life readily accept A level mathematics as a desirable qualification, almost everybody requires (I)GCSE mathematics and if you want to go on to study at university then A level mathematics will open more doors than any other subject.

When I arrived at Runnymede four years ago, Mr Powell set me the task of promoting Further Mathematics at A level. Since then, a growing number of our students have taken up the challenge and the success rate of degree applications to top UK institutions, including Oxbridge, has gone up accordingly. This year's cohort, for example, includes students currently holding offers for mathematics, physics and engineering courses at Oxford, Imperial, Bath, Warwick, Bristol and York universities. Further down the school, their successors have also been hard at work. We are hoping for a bumper year at IGCSE and the UK maths challenge has yielded it's usual harvest of certificates. The recipients are too numerous to list here but special mention must go to Carlos Saenz (Y8) who came top in the junior competition, Jenny Leggat (Y10) at intermediate level and Sergio Casalins in the seniors. Jenny did so well in fact, that she was went on to compete in the next round of the olympiad: an invitation only paper called the “pink kangaroo”.

It only remains for me to thank my departmental colleagues for their support throughout the year and to wish them all the best for the future.

By the way, for those students who really are interested, Google returns the search “Why study Maths” with 24,200,000 links in 0.07seconds. A quick skim through the first 3 pages should be enough to convince you that we are not wasting your time. If not, then please refer to the other 23,199,997 reasons.