Teachers are provided with extra support materials, such as further discussion and extension problems, which can provide useful for the exceptonal student. Sometimes a question can thereby introduce a student to a new branch of mathematics. The Enrichment Stage is our formal extension course. This course, in four sequential versions designed for years 7 to 10, provides formal instruction in many theoretical branches of mathematics, such as geometry, discrete mathematics, algebra. logic and number theory. This course material, with further notes available to the teacher, takes about 6 months of the academic year.
Students eventually receive certificates based on their success in the course problems.
Interaction with the teacher is stressed. Unfortunately teachers in Australia often feel stressed, with lower salaries and conditions than in professions with comparable training and community responsibility, so it is always an issue with us to persuade the teachers to take on the commitment. Whereas most of our activities are stable in numbers, the Enrichment Stage saw a considerable increase in numbers during 1998. Well over 6,000 students, many of them the same as in the Challenge Stage, have participated. This year we have restructured this more along the lines of the American AIME and have set up a prize structure.