About Us

With a collective experience of over 25 years, we have perfected the art of helping students succeed and building enthusiasm for maths. Here you’ll learn: Who we help, What we do, Our philosophy, Our story, and our Team Members.

Who we help

We help students aged 10-14 with maths. We work with students who are doing well at school but are not sufficiently challenged to reach their full potential. These kids have the potential for mathematics brilliance now and in the future but lack the personalised support, preparation, guidance, or challenge to get there.

So often, bright kids coast through mathematics, finding it easy to achieve top marks in primary school and much of secondary school.

Suddenly, they hit a point where maths is no longer easy. Either at GCSE, A-Level or University, they start to struggle with the subject that came so naturally to them. Sadly, they don’t know how to deal with this and lose interest in a subject they used to love.

We help students avoid this situation using our Maths Mastery Method.

What we do

We help our students achieve ‘Maths Mastery’ - to qualify for the Maths Olympiad (among the top 1% of students in the country) and set a foundation for success for GCSE, A-Level and beyond while enjoying studying maths.

We do this through our two training programs:

1) Maths Mastery Family, which puts power into the hands of parents with all the tools and resources to prepare your child for maths competitions, and

2) Maths Mastery Academy, where we guide your child to success through our live online lessons, meticulous progress tracking, gamified awards system, and supportive online community.

Our philosophy

We believe in introducing kids to mathematics that actually challenges them to think deeply about the problems they’re solving. This forces them to apply the concepts they are learning.

It teaches students techniques for problem-solving, getting unstuck, and thinking logically when there is not an obvious answer, thus giving them a richer, more rewarding, and more authentic experience of mathematics.

We follow a philosophy built on five core principles:

1. Enthusiasm — We share our passion for mathematics, allowing a fun, lighthearted environment to develop

2. Guidance — Kids are taught all day. We engage them by hearing their thinking and guiding them to creative answers.

3. Practice — Vital to students' results, we make practice engaging and interactive and supported by teachers and peers

4. Transparency — Clear communication with kids and parents on their progress and room for improvement

5. Rewards —The Maths Challenge occurs once per year. To keep students motivated and learning, we ensure they have mini-milestones and rewards for hitting them throughout the year.

Our story

“Two things make a great teacher. To have a deep understanding of the subject, and to care about your students and their progress.” - Marcus Samuel, Maths Mastery Academy

Part 1. From Maths Student to Maths Teacher

I was fortunate to be taught and mentored by some fantastic enthusiastic and passionate Mathematics teachers, so I know how important this is to engage students.

An enthusiastic and curious teacher brings the subject to life making learning exciting, which is massively motivating, especially when facing more complex challenges.

I’ve always loved Maths and found enjoyment in the beauty and logic of problem-solving, leading me to study Mathematics with Philosophy at university.

I find the combination of numeric logic alongside rational thinking intensely appealing.

After graduating, having gained some experience coaching student-athletes (rowers), and tutoring for GCSE and 13+ entrance exams, it was a natural progression to complete a Post Graduate Certificate in Education for Mathematics at the University of Oxford.

While at Oxford, I taught Maths at Didcot Girls School and afterwards secured a position as a Mathematics Teacher at Sevenoaks School – the UK’s leading independent co-educational school (according to the Sunday Times Parent Power 2023 rankings).

Part 2. From Maths Teacher to Maths Competition Coach

At Sevenoaks I taught students aged 11-18 for three years, helping them to achieve top grades and secure places at world-class universities in the UK and overseas. But I saw a gap for students who wanted to do more than ‘tick the box’ and get the grade.

This was when my mentor and friend introduced me to the UKMT maths competitions and maths Olympiad, for the top 1% of maths students.

To provide an outlet for this potential, I ran a maths club for keen mathematicians, going beyond the curriculum, enabling them to challenge themselves in a supportive environment and compete against their peers nationwide.

It was exciting seeing my students experience epiphanies by solving complex maths problems. On Friday nights, when most students were typically tired and wanting to go home for the weekend, my maths club students were still in school bouncing ideas off each other, or doing practice tests (!) and enjoying learning with similarly motivated students in a safe and supportive space.

More than anything, it was fun discussing and being challenged by this fascinating mathematics, growing our understanding together.

Having completed thousands of Maths Challenge questions and hundreds of Olympiad questions and, having taught the full curriculum from year 7 to year 13, I developed an approach to teaching that focused on student-led problem-solving.

The success of this method sowed the seed of the Maths Mastery Academy.

Part 3. From Competition Coaching to the Maths Mastery Academy

I started the Maths Master Academy with a simple aim: To help keen young mathematicians harness their full potential.

To be good at anything you must practice it, consistently. You won’t practice if you don’t enjoy it, so our number 1 goal at the Maths Mastery Academy is for students to enjoy maths.

My approach: To build enthusiasm and confidence by guiding students to discover their own insights.We engage students by solving interesting questions that extend beyond the curriculum.

We connect students in small groups with similarly motivated peers, discussing and sharing ideas in a safe, friendly, and supportive space.

We compete at the Maths Challenge to keep students focused and motivated to learn.

And we practice maths in fun and creative ways. All of this combines to help students build a strong maths foundation for success at GCSE, A-Level, and beyond.

In the sentiment of the ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician:“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit”

Our team

Marcus Samuel
Teacher & Founder
Teaches Maths, creates content, leads the business

Marcus is a qualified Maths teacher with a PGCE in Mathematics from the University of Oxford University and a degree in Mathematics and Philosophy from the University of Bristol. Prior to founding the Maths Mastery Academy, he taught students aged 11-18 at Sevenoaks School - the leading co-educational independent school in the UK (according to the Sunday Times parent Power report).

Here Marcus led an initiative to stretch gifted and talented 12-15 year-olds and prepare them for National Maths Competitions, leading to him to develop a unique method for harnessing the talents of young mathematicians and building confidence in their ability to solve problems independently, laying the foundations for future success in maths. This is what the Maths Mastery Programme is based upon and in 2024, Marcus left Sevenoaks to focus full-time on widening student access to his successful Maths Mastery Programme.

Grant Jennings
Teaching Lead
Runs the 12-Week program for all new students

Grant brings a wealth of experience, having been a certified teacher for 20 years, and has been teaching for longer than that. Based in Canada, he was a high school senior maths and grade 9 maths specialist teacher before being promoted. He now supports other teachers and supports students with unique needs (both students that a gifted and weaker in maths). He runs the maths club at his school, helping students with competition maths, coaching his team to become the top maths team in the country, and the club is still growing year on year. He is passionate and always excited to tackle new problems; his students see and share that enthusiasm too.

For fun, Grant likes to do Tai Chi, is experienced in meditation, and is fluent English, French and Chinese Mandarin! He enjoys playing guitar and skiing with his three kids in his free time.

Arianne Pequeña
Personal Assistant
Manages all the day-to-day (besides teaching) in running the Maths Mastery Academy

Contact us

If you want to keep in touch, you can join our email list here and follow Marcus Samuel on Instagram here. If you have any enquires about our products, reach out to Marcus on Whatsapp here:+44 7936 553206