James Grime and Katie Steckles are mathematicians who love to talk about and share maths on the internet. We’re putting together a weekend retreat, aimed at people who are excited about maths and want a chance to see some interesting maths activities and meet other people with similar interests.

The course will be in the form of two sessions, taking place on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, 1.30pm - 4.30pm, and the course is aimed at UK school years 10-11 / ages 14-16.

We’re also offering a session for UK school years 9-7 / ages 11-14, which will cover the same content at a different level, so please make sure you’re booked on to the correct session for your age (not both!).

In each session we’ll work on two different topics: we’ll explore graph theory (mathematical networks of points and lines), and geometry & topology (studying shapes in different numbers of dimensions). There’ll be breaks and chances for you to get away from the screen, as well as opportunities to chat with the other participants and work on things together. We’ll give you two fun ‘homework’ activities to do between the Saturday and Sunday sessions, one for each topic.

We’ll show you some aspects of maths you wouldn’t learn about in school, and we hope it’ll be new and interesting to you. If you have explored a lot of maths before, make sure to check the topics listed above so you know what we’ll be covering, and feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

In order to participate in the session, you’ll need a computer or phone that can dial in to a Zoom call, and the ability to type into the chat and give answers on a microphone. You should also have a camera so you can be seen on the call, but you can turn this off after the start of the session if you wish. You should also make sure you have some blank or lined paper, pens/pencils (including a few coloured pens/crayons), scissors and sticky tape handy.

Information for accompanying adults

All attendees under 16 must be accompanied by an adult - we’ll ask you to wave to us on camera at the start of each session and be around at home throughout the session.

If you have more than one child who wishes to attend the session, you will only need to buy one ticket. But it is important all children are the right age for the session - that is, in Y7-Y9 for the morning sessions, and Y10-Y11 for the afternoon sessions.

We also have a Code of Conduct for the session - anyone found to be in violation of the Code of Conduct may be permanently removed from the session, and no refunds will be issued.

On check out you will be asked to confirm the name and age of the student participant, as well as the name and contact information of the responsible adult. We will also ask for your zoom screen name, which will help us admit the correct people to the meeting.