Strength in numbers: further QE mathematical success

After no fewer than 255 QE boys from Years 7 and 8 took part in this year’s Junior Maths Challenge, 71 were awarded gold certificates and 16 qualified for the Junior Mathematical Olympiad.

Inspired by the various Challenges run by the UK Mathematics Trust, the School then ran a successful Year 7 Mathematics Fair – a morning of events run as a house competition.

Best-in-school in the national Junior Maths Challenge was Nico Puthu, of Year 8, who scored 124 out of 135, while the Year 7 high scorer was Ben Domb, with 117. The top 40% entrants nationally receive a gold, silver or bronze certificate in the ratio 1:2:3, while around 1,200 of the highest scorers are invited to take part in the Olympiad. Both Year 7 and Year 8 boys took part, with 44 awarded silver and 16 bronze. 

The Year 7 Mathematics Fair comprised a carousel of activities. Some were familiar mathematical problem-solving activities (A Question of Maths, Cross Numbers); others more practical (Origami, Tangrams [a puzzle in which a set of pieces can be assembled in different ways to produce geometric shapes]).  After these activities, all teams took part in the Relay, which combined speed in movement about the room with mental agility in solving a Mathematics problem as quickly as possible. All six houses were also required to create a poster on What is Mathematics?

Each team was supervised by a Year 12 Further Mathematics student. “This Maths Fair was a great opportunity for the Sixth-Formers to interact with Year 7,” said Assistant Head of Mathematics Wendy Fung.

The overall winners were Broughton with 699 points, second was Harrisons’ with 689 and third Stapylton with 684. Broughton were subsequently presented with the Scarisbrick Shield in assembly. The award for best poster went to Harrisons’.

Winning team captain Oscar Smith (pictured right) said victory in the fair had been “brilliant” and was “a nice surprise and a good achievement for our form”.

Other comments from the enthusiastic competitors included: “It was really fun, as you had to work in teams”; “I really liked the relay because we had to be quick and it was intense”, and “I liked the tangrams because I hadn’t done anything like it before.”