Clubs for ages 8–15Clubsforages8–15

“Matesha” is a playful Russian word for maths. The problems are the kind a classic maths circle sets: you can sit over one all evening. There are no marks, and each child can find their own way to the answer.

What we solve

• logic problems and puzzles
• combinatorics, number theory and probability
• geometry beyond the school syllabus
• non-standard and olympiad problems

The younger ones solve puzzles and logic riddles; the older ones work out why maths works the way it does. We do work through olympiad problems, but we don't drill for olympiads.

How sessions run

• We work out why it works. School gives you plenty of rules to memorise. In the club we look at how one thing follows from another, so you can reason your way to the rule yourself.
• The teacher asks questions rather than giving hints. The children find the answer themselves, not always at the first attempt. It's fine to get it wrong and to suggest your own route.
• Maths battles, carousels and debates. Once we've built up some material: we solve problems in teams and keep score, take problems “in a chain”, and argue about paradoxes.

The approach is more focused than at Children's University, where everything happens through play: we sit down and solve. The programme is matched to the age of the group. As Natasha puts it: “We don't set a frame, we create a space for exploration.”