Meet the students

Star Student

"Scary advanced work turned into an adventure into the unknown"
 

Jonathan is 14 years old (Year 10) and currently studying at Level K on the maths programme. He started Kumon six years ago because in his words he did not feel that he was achieving his full potential. He was finding maths at school hard and he was having difficulty understanding the explanations that were being given by his teacher. In joining Kumon Jonathan found that the structured approach to maths suited him well and he soon began to progress at his own level of understanding.

 

The first time he ran into a topic that challenged him was with long division but after a few attempts he got the hang of it. It was not long before Kumon began to have a direct result on his school work and Jonathan moved from being a "normal kid" in middle class into a "high achieving student" in advanced class. Jonathan learnt how to make mistakes and how to learn from these mistakes and it wasn't long before Jonathan was studying work in Kumon that he had not seen before in school. In class one day Jonathan started talking to another student who was studying a couple of levels higher on Level G and Jonathan was astounded to see the work that student was doing. He thought he could never live up to this student and found the whole idea of higher maths quite daunting.

 

When Jonathan himself approached Level G he admits he was a bit scared of this level but having already worked through previous levels he reminded himself that if he got stuck he could just return to the basics and practice these more. Jonathan developed ways of supporting his own study and began a notebook with his notes about particular sums and formulae's that he could use to refer back to work he had previously completed. Slowly the door of algebra maths opened for him. Scary advanced work turned into an adventure into the unknown and he was determined to give it his best shot.

 

Jonathan has a natural curiosity to find out the "why" in situations. He would question everything and the first time he came across Einstein E=MC2 he felt he just had to know more. He looked at the work these great people had done before him and felt "I want to follow these people, one day I'll be able to explain why E=MC2".

 

With such a positive attitude Jonathan has found through Kumon that he can understand maths better and gain a better insight into processes. His GCSE courses also cover electronics and he has found through learning at Kumon he is able to manipulate formulas to fit different situations and he has a better understanding of his physics lessons understanding quickly distance and time.

 

Jonathan says he has a better understanding of things around him, he is able to think in many different ways and realises he has the power to change a situation – he can change the environment around him. Maths at school isn't a challenge anymore infact its quite easy and knowing he is an advanced student has given him a sense of confidence which has helped him in other subjects. He is now preparing to take his A Level maths paper in June and helps his friends in his advanced maths class at school.

 

In Year 10 Jonathan knows he needs to be organised with his work, he has made himself a work timetable which he follows and there are breaks for dinner and The Simpsons. He advises that it's best not to procrastinate with homework and just to get stuck in. He probably spends about 20-30 minutes a day on his Kumon with 15 minutes to work through the problems and about 5-10 minutes jotting down notes for himself. He says that he quickly gets into the rhythm of Kumon and his other homework slots around it, actually he finds the focus of his Kumon quite helpful in settling him down to study.

 

Jonathan has been inspired along his Kumon journey by other students he has met either at the centre or at the High-Level Awards Ceremony. He thought the guitar playing maths professor at one of the awards ceremonies was particular cool.

 

Jonathan continues to make great progress through his studies and he is working towards the L Award at Kumon and plans to carry on with his studies when he gets to university and hopes to complete the Kumon programme. He likes looking at the Kumon website and has even spotted there is a Kumon North America/Kumon Europe and Africa conference in Japan this year for all Kumon Instructors from across the globe.

 

I asked Jonathan what he thought made a good student and he told me three things:

• Perseverance
• Hard work
• Goal orientated

which Jonathan certainly has in abundance! Jonathan is also curious about things outside of his Kumon and is looking at becoming a student voice in a young parliament leader group where students are given the opportunity to raise their concerns on modern issues.

 

He has a strong belief that he can give something to the world around him, that he still has more to achieve and his Kumon journey to date has been a really fun and exciting time. He also enjoys other hobbies and interests and likes cycling as a health body keeps a health mind. His career ambition is to be either a cardio or neurosurgeon as this type of work best suits his interest.