At 1729, we are creating an environment where deep curiosity, intellectual courage, and creative thinking are celebrated daily.
Discover more about the UK's first specialist maths school for ages 11-18 located within the stunning Belmont and Mill Hill School campus.
I am thrilled to be the Founding Head of 1729, a school unlike any other, purpose-built for children with exceptional mathematical potential. We’re building a place where extraordinary mathematical minds can flourish and where curiosity lies at the heart of everything we do. Children who thrive at 1729 will be those with an insatiable appetite for new ideas, a natural ability to think in new and different ways and a fascination with challenging, unsolved problems. They will thrive when working independently and will grow when communicating and collaborating with like-minded peers.
We hope you enjoy exploring our website and I am personally so excited to work alongside the most exceptional mathematical talent in the country.
Nick Hamshaw
Founding Head, 1729 Maths School
The success of post-16 specialist maths schools in the UK has shown a glimpse of what we can achieve with a maths focused education for pupils with natural talent. For the first time in the UK, the 1729 Maths School will be identifying mathematically talented pupils from a younger age, and offering places to those who deserve them irrespective of family income.
We hope that our pupils will leave 1729 Maths School carrying the torch for maths in interesting, fulfilling and impactful careers across the UK and globally in the decades ahead.
By beginning their journey at age 11 or 13 (our two points of entry) pupils will have the time and space to develop their mathematical talents, while also enjoying the freedoms that come with an independent school education. From outreach to pastoral care to teaching, excellence inspires all our activity. Everything we do works in service of nurturing and developing world-class mathematical talent.
World-class mathematical talent can be found anywhere, and so our school will have needs-blind admissions and a range of bursaries available. Meritocracy is one of the founding values of our school, and family income will never be a barrier for pupils with the potential to thrive here.
Our ability to deliver this comes from the unique way we're funded: we're a partnership between Mill Hill Schools and Purposeful Ventures, a not-for-profit organisation working towards a fairer society where all young people thrive. Through Purposeful Ventures, the School has been initiated and is funded by Alex and Elena Gerko, major supporters of maths education and research in the UK.
1729 is well known in maths circles as the ‘taxicab’ number – or the Hardy-Ramanujan number, which came from a conversation over a hundred years ago involving mathematicians G.H. Hardy and Srinivasa Ramanujan.
As later told by Hardy: “I remember once going to see him [Ramanujan] when he was lying ill at Putney. I had ridden in taxi-cab number 1729 and remarked that the number seemed to be rather a dull one, and that I hoped it was not an unfavourable omen. "No," he replied, "it is a very interesting number; it is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways."
The number 1729 is also a wonderful number in maths. For example, it is a Harsad number in base 10 and it’s also the first Chemick-Carmichael number! And for anyone wondering if the year is also significant; it was the year Newton's Principia was first published in English.
One of the major benefits of the 1729 Maths School is that our pupils will have much more time to immerse themselves in maths – at least twice as much as in traditional schooling in the UK.
We will have a bespoke maths curriculum tailored to each pupils' abilities and interests, complemented by enrichment activities such as maths circles, clubs, competitions and lectures.
The 1729 Maths School will be part of the wider community of Mill Hill School and Belmont, Mill Hill Prep. Set in 120 acres of stunning grounds in north London, Mill Hill is renowned for its excellence, offering exceptional teaching, pastoral care and co-curricular activities.
The beauty of our 'school within a school' structure is it gives pupils dedicated space to nurture their maths talent with their like-minded peers, while also being fully embedded in the wider school community of Mill Hill.
The 1729 Maths School will have dedicated buildings on the shared Belmont and Mill Hill campus, with the first boarding house which our boarders and day pupils will all use as their base, opening ahead of September 2026.
Our pupils will then join fellow pupils at Belmont and Mill Hill for the majority of their school day, including non-maths-related lessons, clubs, activities and meals.
Founded in 1807, Mill Hill School was created to break the mould and broaden access to education, and this ethos of innovation continues today as part of Mill Hill Education Group, a charitable collection of schools. The schools attract families from across the UK and around the world. Mill Hill School (for ages 13-18) and Belmont, Mill Hill Prep (for ages 7-13) share particularly strong ties, and nearly all Belmont pupils transition to Mill Hill School at age 13.
The 1729 Maths School will share this ethos, fostering an environment in which every individual feels valued and empowered to achieve excellence in their chosen path, and a culture that parents can trust to prioritise their child’s happiness and personal growth.
Pupils of the 1729 Maths School will also benefit from Mill Hill’s unique ‘London in the countryside’ setting, with its 120 acres of beautiful school grounds and facilities providing an inspiring backdrop for learning.
More about admissions and suitability
If you recognise high mathematical talent and promise in your child, or a child you teach, we would encourage you to register your details with us.