School of Mathcraft
Specialist mathematics education for students who need greater breadth and depth.
High ability
When the usual pace or level of work does not provide enough challenge.
Strong curiousity
When a student wants to explore ideas beyond what is normally taught.
Ambitious goals
When a student is preparing for demanding competitions, examinations or future studies.
A demanding
academic pathway
When the mathematics becomes more advanced, faster-paced or dependent on strong foundations.
These needs often overlap, and their balance changes as students grow
When a student learns well, progress itself changes what they need next.
When high ability leads to ambitious goals
A student who initially needs greater challenge because of high ability may pursue goals that stretch that ability.
As goals become more ambitious, we also help students juggle them with competing priorities.
When curiosity is sustained by growing ability
Strong curiosity can take a student far beyond what they once imagined they could learn. Developing their ability gives them more freedom to keep following the questions that interest them.
We are not merely exposing students to advanced mathematics. We are also teaching them how to make difficult ideas increasingly accessible to themselves, so that they can continue to follow their curiosity wherever it leads.
When high ability leads to ambitious goals
A student who initially needs greater challenge because of high ability may pursue goals that stretch that ability.
As goals become more ambitious, we also help students juggle them with competing priorities.
When high ability leads to ambitious goals
A student who initially needs greater challenge because of high ability may pursue goals that stretch that ability.
As goals become more ambitious, we also help students juggle them with competing priorities.
When high ability leads to ambitious goals
A student who initially needs greater challenge because of high ability may pursue goals that stretch that ability.
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As goals become more ambitious, we also help students juggle them with competing priorities.
When high achievement brings new demands
High performers often qualify for academic pathways that are open only to high-achieving students.
While we are strong advocates of acceleration, we are also transparent about the challenges that may lie ahead and raise relevant issues early.
For students aged 8 to 18
Together, these needs naturally call for greater breadth and depth in mathematics. This is the kind of learning we specialise in.
When students with these needs find us
A few messages we have received over the years.
But aren't all students curious?
In general, yes. But ...
Window of opportunity
In a typical classroom, the opportunity to question an idea is not open indefinitely.
New concepts in mathematics are often built on earlier ones. Some questions are most productive when the underlying idea is first introduced. If students become accustomed to moving on with unresolved doubts about simpler ideas, it becomes increasingly difficult to know what to question when the mathematics becomes more complex.
Eventually, making room for this kind of questioning may no longer be a practical.
Harder to go back
Most people understand that foundations matter.
But once a student falls behind, going back to repair the foundation begins to compete with whatever the student is currently expected to learn. Earlier gaps will snowball into larger gaps.
When the curriculum moves faster than understanding
Conscientious and self-motivated students may still find ways to cope — by memorising procedures, recognising examination patterns and learning to apply the "right" rules. Sometimes this is necessary. But if that gradually replaces understanding as the main way they learn mathematics, it is not the kind of learning we specialise in.
What to expect from our lessons
Customised lessons, personalised progress
Just like streaming platforms allow people to watch a series at their own pace, we believe in allowing students to learn at their true pace. Students can accelerate when they are ready, and slow down to address gaps when needed.
Finding the right balance
Building confidence
We don't just teach students the "right" thing to do in mathematics. Instead, we strategise with them and show them how to change course and recover.
Problem solving and Math Olympiads
Mathematics competitions offer a well-curated collection of increasingly difficult non-routine problems. Remove the time pressure and ranking, and they become excellent material for learning how to solve unfamiliar problems.
For many students, being able to solve problems around lower-secondary competition level independently — without a time limit — is already a strong standard. It gives them considerable problem-solving capacity to support future curiosity, ambitious goals and demanding academic pathways.
Our homework is not compulsory, but recommended for faster progress
School curriculum support
Producing results while pursuing broader ideals
When students are encouraged to learn with a genuine focus on understanding, strong results often follow.
The same focus on understanding also allows us to pursue broader goals in mathematics education without compromising on results.
For example, mathematics can be a useful way of looking beneath the surface and understanding the world more deeply.
Seeing the world through mathematics
Estimating the size of Shanghai
After a trip to Shanghai, a 9-year-old estimated that Shanghai was about 9 times the size of Singapore by comparing the driving time from each city's airport to a neighbouring city.
Reconstructing a hidden average
When a school stopped publishing the overall average score (presumably to discourage excessive competition), a 14-year-old figured out how it could still be reconstructed from the information that remained available.
GE2025 sample-vote counts
An 8-year-old explored different possible scenarios behind sample-vote counts during Singapore's General Election 2025.
Trade, tariffs and jobs
When the US announced its "Liberation Day" tariffs, a 13-year-old looked at the issue through the lens of mathematics and rediscovered the idea of comparative advantage — including how specialisation can bring benefits while also causing some jobs to be lost.
Encouraging students to engage with one another's ideas
While playing with a calculator, an 8-year-old noticed a mathematical pattern and wondered why it happened.
Another 8-year-old saw it and tried to explain it.
We want students to experience mathematics not only as something taught to them, but as something they can question, explain and discuss with one another.
Deep understanding beyond procedures
Have you seen pianists who performs as though they are seeing more than just the notes?
Learning mathematics that way can be fun too. When things get technically difficult, there should still be more to see than the procedures. Deeper understanding gives students something interesting to think about — and a way to amuse themselves while working through the difficulty.
For example, the cross product can be learnt as a dry formula. But a 16-year-old explored not only where the formula comes from, but also how its individual components can be understood as projections.
How we teach
To us, learning mathematics boils down to getting better at two things:
1. figuring things out for ourselves, and
2. mastering what others have already figured out.
But the devil is in the details.