Harrow Way Community School’s able Year 7 and 8 Maths students have put their mathematical skills to the test in the annual UK Junior Maths Challenge (UKMC), a national competition organised by the UK Mathematics Trust (UKMT). The results are now in and overall one student achieved Gold, seven Silver and 24 Bronze certificates.
Commenting on the result Christina Marsh, Assistant Curriculum Leader for Mathematics said: “We are particularly pleased with this year’s performance. We haven’t achieved a Gold certificate for a couple of years and nearly double the number of students were awarded Bronze and Silver certificates. More importantly though is they all really enjoyed taking part in the challenge which is one of the ways in which we stretch students throughout the year. Maths is a particular strength here at Harrow Way with 77% of students achieving A*-C in last year’s GCSE exams – 13% above the national average, putting Harrow Way in the top 20% of schools in the country for levels of progress in this subjectâ€.
Year 8 student Joel Hesslegrave achieved the much coveted Gold certificate along with Best in School and Best in Year. Joel’s result was only three marks off qualifying to be one of only 5000 students in the country invited to take part in the Junior Mathematical Kangaroo.
The Junior Challenge is aimed at students in Year 7 and 8. Over 250,000 students from across the UK sat the Challenge this year with approximately the top 6% receiving a Gold certificate, the next 13% Silver and the next 21% Bronze. The challenge is a lively and intriguing set of multiple choice questions which are designed to stimulate interest in maths in large numbers of students. There are 25 multiple choice questions to be answered within one hour, sat in school under normal exam conditions.
The UKMT’s aim is to advance the education of children and young people in mathematics. They organise national mathematics competitions and other mathematical enrichment activities for 11-18 year old UK school pupils.