I started volunteering with the UK Maths Trust in 2015. Another volunteer, Daniel Griller, encouraged me to get involved after a discussion about problem-solving, so my first involvement was submitting problems to the BMO committee. I submitted far too many too quickly and I think to slow me down, I was encouraged to attend a BMO marking weekend.

I’d never been to such an event before and it opened my eyes to what the Maths Trust does for students who are highly motivated by mathematics. I was amazed to see how many of the markers had themselves been students sitting UKMT papers in previous years. I thought to myself, this must be a wonderful organisation if these people want to come back and volunteer their time as a thank you for what the organisation did for them!

I have quite an intense personality and can get fixated on things, and I believe the Maths Trust was a fixation for me. I will list the roles that I have taken on in previous years and I’m sure you’ll see what I mean!

• 2017-Current Member of the Mathematical Olympiad for Girls (MOG) Problem Group
• 2017-Current MOG Marker
• 2017-Current BMO Round 1 Marker
• 2018 Summer School Teacher and Supervisor (you may have a better name for this)
• 2018-Current Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad Marker
• 2018-2021 Member of the British Mathematical Olympiad (BMO) Problem Group
• 2019-2023 Vice-Chair of Cayley, Hamilton and Maclaurin Olympiad Problem Group
• 2020 Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad (IMOK) Marking Coordinator (a one-off Covid role)
• 2021-2023 Cayley Intermediate Olympiad Paper Lead
• 2021-2023 Cayley Intermediate Olympiad Marking Lead
• 2021-2023 Chair Junior Mathematical Olympiad (JMO) Problem Group
• 2021-2023 Junior Mathematical Olympiad (JMO) Marking Lead
• 2023-Current Oxford Camp Lead
  
  

As you can see, I started off as a member of several problem groups and then gained confidence and experience, and was given the privilege to lead on the setting of some papers. I only felt confident to do this once I had written lots of problems of my own, and felt I better understood what makes a good problem, and equally what makes a bad one. I have also led marking weekends and this posed quite a different challenge, because I was suddenly managing an event involving around 50 volunteers.

I really am passionate about problem solving (cliché I know) and when I was teaching mathematics in schools, it struck me how many mathematics teachers there aren’t. There are a variety of reasons for this, but one is that it can be quite time consuming crafting suitable problems for your students, and scaffolding them appropriately when using them in the classroom.

It occurred to me that one of the easiest ways to remedy this is to have a large quantity of excellent problems and solutions ready for them to utilise. The Maths Trust provides precisely this and in fact they are categorised by age group, which makes them even more convenient to use. I decided I wanted to help contribute to this collection.

This then evolved into me wanting to be actively part of the setting process, which in turn evolved into me being part of the marking process. My main mission now is to continue encouraging the use of this fabulous collection of problems and solutions with as many students, teachers and parents as possible!

Essentially, I love what the Maths Trust offers for highly motivated students and I feel I can best contribute by writing lots of problems, testing lots of problems, refining problems ready for national competitions, and then marking lots of solutions to the problems that get chosen!

From a purely selfish point of view a favourite UKMT volunteering memory was being sat in a room full of Exeter Mathematics School students ready to sit BMO Round 1, and when we turned over the paper to start I saw that two of the six questions were mine! It was a lovely experience to talk with the students afterwards about those problems in particular, and I was delighted that they were interested in hearing more about the writing and setting process.

Another memory that has stayed with me is the fantastic relief and satisfaction I felt when we finally finished the Cayley Olympiad marking that happened during the pandemic. I was leading the Cayley marking when everything suddenly had to go online and be marked remotely. This was a huge change to what volunteers were used to. There was a new bespoke online platform (very much still in its development stage) to navigate and rather than marking over a weekend, it took several weeks. I will always remain grateful to all the markers who sacrificed much more of their time than they initially anticipated.

I have learnt a huge amount volunteering for the Maths Trust and it has had a vast impact on me. I have become a much stronger problem solver and due to the amount of writing and setting I’ve done, I can better anticipate where a student may struggle with a given problem. I have taught in five schools and for the final three of those, UKMT volunteering was a key discussion point at interview. Every student I taught after becoming a UKMT volunteer benefitted from my volunteering experiences and they were treated to a much stronger mathematics teacher as a result.

I am grateful to UKMT for these experiences because they have allowed me to develop a myriad of skills. I am very pleased I have been able to learn how to manage teams of volunteers through setting and marking because this has put me in good stead for my recent career change – I am now working with best selling author Simon Singh on his Parallel Academy project. This is aimed at increasing the diversity and number of mathematicians in the UK. His charity offers state school students who are motivated by mathematics a chance to attend weekly tutorials in small groups. We hope that students who join us in Year 7 will stay with us until the end of Year 11. I am honoured to have been given the opportunity to contribute to such an ambitious project, and the opportunity likely only arose due to my UKMT volunteering.

If I have any advice or tips for individuals who are considering volunteering with the UK Maths Trust, the teacher in me says it is by far the best subject specific CPD you can do. The mathematician in me says it is one of the most enjoyable ways to experience mathematics with other like-minded people.

I always have my first recommendation to join the Trust by Daniel Griller in the back of my mind, and so I work hard to promote UKMT with people I know would derive a lot of enjoyment from volunteering with us. I am proud that several of the new markers I recruited a few years ago have continued to attend in subsequent years and in some cases have attended every marking event (below BMO Round 2) since. Volunteer as much or a little as you like, but do give volunteering a try and I’m confident you won’t regret it!