The United Kingdom Mathematics Trust (UKMT) runs a series of challenges each year to inspire a love of problem solving through its competitions and enrichment activities. Recently, pupils from Forms 3, 4 and 5 (Year 9, 10 and 11) participated in the Intermediate Maths Challenge and 17 received medal certificates. 

Of the 17, three pupils, Jonathan, William and Ray, received gold medal certificates, narrowly missing out on the 118 points needed to progress to the Maclaurin Olympiad. But they, along with Imogen, received high enough scores to qualify for the Kangaroo follow-on rounds. This will take place later this month and gives them an opportunity to pit their skills against young mathematicians from around the world.

Head of Maths, Mr Mark Skidmore, said: ‘It is encouraging to see our students take on these challenges and improve soft skills, such as logical thought processing, deduction, lateral thinking, pattern searching and estimations. All these skills are relevant across the curriculum and in the wider world.’

Assistant Head of Mathematics, Mr Fergus Yuille, who coordinates these Maths Challenge opportunities, added: ‘We have several talented mathematicians in the Intermediate category and the Maths Challenge is a great opportunity for all of our pupils to compete not only against one another, but also on the national stage and see how far they can go.’

The next national inter-pupil competition is the Junior Maths Challenge for pupils in Forms 1 and 2 (Year 7 and 8) and will take place after the Easter holidays. For more information on the UKMT and to see the types of problem solving they encourage and promote, please visit their UKMT website or follow them on their Instagram account ukmathstrust.