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Department Reviews

MATHEMATICS

The Mathematical Association lectures have been particularly interesting this year. We commenced with a talk from Tony Gardiner of Birmingham University on the extension of Pythagoras’ theorem to three dimensions. David Acheson from Oxford University gave his entertaining talk on Maths, Music and the Guitar in November which was followed in January by a very popular lecture entitled How to Choose a Husband. The lecture hosted by College was given by Dr Caroline Series from Warwick University on the subject of Indra's Pearls: Geometry and Symmetry. Felix Klein, one of the great nineteenth-century geometers, discovered in mathematics an idea prefigured in Buddhist mythology: that the heaven of Indra contained a net of pearls, each of which was reflected in its neighbours, so that the whole universe was mirrored in each pearl. Klein studied infinitely repeating reflections, each simple in itself, but interacting to produce fractals on the edge of chaos.

SFC Mathematicians entered the Senior Mathematics Challenge and, out of 112 girls, 11 gained gold certificates, 33 gained silver certificates and 28 gained bronze certificates. Yvette Liu, Rosie Lu and Rachel Chew in SFC2 qualified to sit the first round of the British Maths Olympiad. Yvette has also been offered a place to read Mathematics at Churchill College, Cambridge.

The Mathematics Team Challenge is a popular and well established event for mathematicians up to age 13. This year, a similar event has been run for the older age group (ages up to 18). It was most encouraging to see teams of four pupils from 17 schools competing in the Gloucestershire regional round on a Monday evening in November and they enjoyed a variety of mathematical tasks from crossnumbers to a team relay challenge. The CLC team of Yvette Liu, Viola Crellin, Jackie Ho and Stephanie Ovenden competed enthusiastically and was the runner up.

In February, all UC4, the top two sets of UC5 and the top set from LC3 participated in the UKMT Intermediate Maths Challenge. In total there were 183 entries, with 21 girls attaining a Gold certificate, 33 girls gaining Silver and 25 gaining Bronze certificates. The top 11 in the school qualified for the second round and out of these three received a merit and two were highly commended.

Similarly, girls from LC1 and LC2 took part in the Junior Maths Challenge in April. Out of the 157 entries, 8 Gold, 26 Silver and 29 Bronze certificates were awarded. One of the LC2s qualified for the second round with a very high score of 114. Again in April four girls, two from LC2 and two from LC3 top sets, participated in the UKMT Team Challenge competition, where they came fourth out of 36 schools.

In June, eight girls in total, four from LC1 and four from LC2, attended a competition for Gloucestershire schools based around the Make 24 Cards. The girls did really well in this competition and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

We continue to provide a varied Saturday programme for the girls. The Enigma machine and code breaking activity remains popular, while old favourites such as maths relays, brain teasers, chess, bridge and other card games provide the girls with a wonderful opportunity to use their logical mind outside the classroom.

All SFC1 mathematicians enjoyed a joint Maths and Drama workshop one Saturday in February. This session saw two outside speakers take the girls on an historical trip through time incorporating many famous mathematicians. This proved a great success, resulting in a very amusing play as well as providing the opportunity for girls to work in groups on some demanding mathematical problems, producing very positive feedback from both the girls and participating staff.

The College chess championship was won by Imogen Stables this year with 22 points out of a possible 24. Amabel Clark and Cicely Proudlock were equal 2nd with 20 points. Five students went on to play in the Gloucestershire Area Tournament. The competition was very tough as, for the first time, the sections were mixed. Frances Mills won her section for the second year in a row and is now the Area U14 champion. Imogen Stables scored an excellent 5/6 and became the Area U12 champion. Both girls have qualified for the next round which will be held in Manchester in July.

News

Vicky Tuck – Telegraph Articles

Vicky Tuck – Telegraph Articles

Please see the links below for the latest telegraph articles written by Vicky Tuck. 28 November 2008, 05 December 2008, 12 December 2008, 19 December ...

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England’s National Under 16 Hockey Squad for 2009

England’s National Under 16 Hockey Squad for 2009

Issy Davies, currently in UC5 at The Cheltenham Ladies' College, has been selected for England's National Under 16 Hockey Squad for 2009. The...

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Gloucestershire Schools’ Debating Competition

Gloucestershire Schools’ Debating Competition

On November 27th Polly Mitchell and Tabitha Ward took part in the Gloucestershire Schools Debating Competition in the Parliament Room in Gloucester Ca...

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Drama Productions

Drama Productions

The Sixth Form production of Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s play 'The School for Scandal' will be held on 5th and 6th December at 7.30pm in the P...

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