Taking on the best of the best

A QE Sixth-Form team competed in the national final of a prestigious Mathematics competition, having first won their regional event.

The four-strong team were pitched against other leading academic schools from the independent and state sectors in the UK Mathematics Trust’s Senior Team Maths Challenge final, which was held at the Royal Horticultural Halls in St James’s Park, London (pictured).

They qualified last term by romping through the regional final at Merchant Taylors’ School in Northwood with a score of 174 points out of 180, or 97 per cent, beating off 19 other schools to secure their national final place. It was the second time that QE have qualified for the last stage of the competition.

In the national final, team captain Yuta Tsuchiya and his fellow Year 12 pupils, Nitharsan Sathiyalingam, Brian Kong and Aditya Ramachandran, scored 147 points out of 186, putting them in 39^th place out of 86 schools. The challenge was won jointly by Westminster School, Ruthin School and King Edward’s School, Birmingham.

Afterwards, Yuta reflected on the national final as “a good experience”, while Brian added: “It was fun spending a whole day doing Maths.”

Team organiser Wendy Fung, who is Assistant Head of Mathematics, said: “The boys were disappointed at their placing – although they should be proud that they qualified in the first place.”