Student Success - Maths Merit Badges

Head of the Maths Faculty, Mr Myers, has championed a new scheme of badge collecting to reward students who have gained the most merits within Maths. Students must achieve a minimum of 50 merits, in Maths alone, to receive the first badge for their year group. There are 3 badges available per year and all refer to prominent mathematicians and philosophers who have shaped not only mathematics, but the world we live in today. 

The students were gathered in the Maths department, within their bubbles, to receive their award certificate and badge. Mr Myers explained who the mathematicians were displayed on the wall and how they related to the badge they had just received. The first set of certificates and badges were given to Year 10 students, and referred to Gottfried Leibniz, whose work from 1679 developed an arithmetic binary system which is the basis of all electronic computer machine code. We would not have modern day computers if it had not been for the work he achieved at that time. 

The second set of certificates and badges were given to Year 7 students, some of whom exclaimed they didn't think they were that good at maths. Their badge refers to Rene Decartes, whose greatest work was called 'La Geometre' which linked geometry and algebra, creating a whole new field of study called 'Cartesian Geometry'. These co-ordinates are still taught today in schools, some of the students who received this award were learning it in the current lesson, they are the 'X' and 'Y' co-ordinates we use to plot on a set of axes. 

Students from Year 9 have now received their badges and certificates, and those students who are absent or self-isolating will receive them when we return to school. 

Mr Myers also mentioned a few of the others who are presented on the wall, Euclid - whose work included the first proof of infinite prime numbers, Pythagoras - who is known around the globe due to the Pythagoras' Theorum, Ada Lovelace - who wrote detailed instructions of how to use and programme the first mechanical computer in 1843, to name a few. There are some famous names on the wall, showing a wide range of abilities throughout all ages, and different areas of work and study.

Mr Myers and the teachers in the maths department want to inspire all students to work hard in their classes and through their homework, to achieve enough merits to be awarded all the badges available per year group. He highlighted that Year 7 will be the first year group who have the potential to achieve the full set of 12 badges by the end of Year 10. 

We are very proud of all students hard work throughout this term and look forward to handing out many more badges during the next 2 terms. Congratulations and keep up the good work!

Maths Merit Badge Awards