Maths4Girls inspires Year 9

Maths4Girls, an organisation that create links between business leaders and schools in order to inspire young women to consider a career in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects, came to talk to our Year 9 students last week.

Three women spoke to the girls about their experiences in STEM subjects. The youngest, Sophie Holliday, is an undergraduate at Churchill College, Cambridge. Currently in her first year of a Natural Sciences degree, she spoke about how Pythagoras' Theorem is used to work out the distance between atoms in a crystal.

Francesca De Dominico, a research fellow in the Department of Engineering at Cambridge, talked about her specialist field - combustion! She explained how flames reduce the efficiency of a jet engine, and gave an exciting demonstration.

Samantha Porteous, a successful businesswoman and former CEO of a successful marketing firm that was floated on the stock exchange under her leadership, spoke about using accountancy to run a business more effectively and the importance of employee share-ownership.

The girls found the talks really inspiring, and it was a fantastic opportunity to quiz women with a breadth of experiences about their careers and their interest in STEM.