Four St. John’s students have won the regional final of the Team Maths Challenge, held at Royal Wootton Bassett School last week. The students, two from Year 8 and two from Year 9, now have a place in the National Final which will be held in London in June.
The challenge includes four rounds and the students have to decide how to manage the very tricky questions either by working as a team, individually or in pairs. Year 8 student, Doug said, “Doing Maths as a team was a new experience. I like having challenging maths problems which are more difficult than the ones you usually get.”
“The competition was quite tense as you get the results of where your team is after each round. We did the best in the Shuttle Round. This is where you work in pairs and you need the answer to one question before going on. We gained bonus marks from completing the questions quickly.”
The students have been preparing for the Maths Challenge every Wednesday lunchtime, with help from Maths teacher Andy Ellis. There will be more preparation to do before the final in June. In the next few weeks they will be given a topic for research and investigation and will be required to present a poster on this topic at the final. Topics in previous years have included polyominoes and folding.
Maths teacher Mrs Wales said, “It’s great for the students to get involved in things outside school. They also get the opportunity to attend Maths master classes at Bath University and to enter the Junior and Senior Maths Challenge after Easter.”
For Becky, another Year 8 student who was a member of the winning team, the best things about the Team Maths Challenge were that, “It boosted my confidence and I made new friends.”
St. John’s ends the term with a bang
