Maths school to open with help from Cambridge University

Cambridge Mathematics School said it wants to encourage more female students into the subject

A maths school for 16 to 19-year-olds will open in 2023 in collaboration with Cambridge University.

The Cambridge Mathematics School, a new state-funded specialist sixth form, will take students from across the East of England.

It will be run by the Eastern Learning Alliance (ELA) and be part of network of maths schools across England.

Clare Hargraves, from the ELA, said it would "help young people manage the jump to degree-level mathematics".

She said the school, which will be on Mill Road in the city, would be "bringing together a community of the region's top-performing maths pupils to study an enhanced curriculum".

The university said the work with the school was part its wider outreach programme to schools across the country

It will also have an "outreach programme" to help pupils across the region.

The school said it wanted to attract more girls, children from ethnic minorities and those from "educationally disadvantaged backgrounds" into maths-related subjects.

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All students will study maths and further maths, and then choose from physics, chemistry, biology or computer science A-levels.

The aim was to address the UK's skills shortage in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects, the school said.

The University of Cambridge said it would share its "expertise" with pupils and staff at the school

Prof Colm-Cille Caulfield, head of the university's Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, said: "Mathematical skills are essential to 21st Century life."

He said the Cambridge Mathematics School "will be an exemplar of best practice in the subject".

Prof Caulfield added that the partnership between the university and the school "has the potential to do enormous good in terms of addressing inequality and reaching the brightest students, regardless of background".