A TALENTED teen with a love for maths spoke of her passion for passing on the subject’s secrets to school youngsters.

Sixth-former Holly Snowdon, who leaves Commonweal School for university at the end of this term, set up a maths club for Year 7 students.

Holly is one of 122 students on the Villiers Park Swindon Scholars programme. Established in 2009, it works with talented children from Year 10 to Year 13 at schools across Swindon, pairing them with mentors and putting them through testing residential trips aimed at boosting their ambitions. Many students go on to top universities and firms.

Speaking at the scholars' end of year celebration at New College, maths-whizz Holly said she had been delighted when her Year 7 pupils asked to try difficult questions that would test older children: “The success of the club was a lot down to the students’ commitment. As well as them benefitting, I benefitted too. I had to use my leadership skills, I had to adapt so I could meet their needs.

“It was just a pleasure to teach them.”

Holly was one of the two Year 13 students in the programme named valedictorian for her year group. The other, Rahul Vital, praised the scheme: “It really helped us get an edge on our peers.”

Students spoke of interesting residential trips. Jaime Hessell, a Year 11 at Lawn Manor Academy, described a week spent at Cambridge learning about code-breaking and puzzling the solutions to encrypted messages. She said the experience had boosted the students’ confidence.

And dancer Dionne Johnson, a Year 10 scholar, took over the stage to perform a crisply choreographed routine.

Richard Gould, chief executive at charity Villiers Park, told the crowd of parents and scholars: “We want the young people that we work with to be successful. What does success mean? It obviously means things like doing well in your exams, but I also think it means much more. What we want young people to do is find their dream and follow it. It maximises their potential.”

Mayor Junab Ali added: “You are the future. Keep up the good work and our country will be in good hands.”