National Mathematics Summer Schools

Each year, two Summer Schools are held in Queen’s College, Birmingham for students mainly in school years 9, 10 and 11 (ages 14–16). Roughly 40 students attend each summer school for a week of lectures, problem-solving sessions, mathematical competitions and explorations, and social events. A group of six seniors who have attended previous summer schools is also present.

Students for one Summer School are selected based on performances in the Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad and Kangaroo (IMOK) papers; for the other, based on the Intermediate Mathematical Challenge.

The first Summer School was held in The Queen’s College, Oxford in July 1994. It was the brainchild of Dr Tony Gardiner (University of Birmingham) who ran the first five, from 1994 to 1998. The BMOC took over the organisation with effect from 1999. The first two Summer Schools were held in The Queen’s College, Oxford, the 1996 Summer School in University College, Oxford and from 1997 the Summer Schools have been held in Queen’s College, Birmingham. Initially there was a single Summer School each year, with the second Summer School being introduced in 2007.