Harrow Way Community School’s able Year 7 and 8 Maths students have put their numbers skills to the test in the annual UK Maths Challenge (UKMC), a national competition organised by the UK Mathematics Trust (UKMT). The results are now in and overall 13 students qualified for the Bronze certificate and three qualified for the Silver certificate.
Silver certificate winner Year 7 student Joel Hesslegrave was awarded Best in School and Best in Year. Joel also received a signed copy of Alex Bellos’s book Alex’s Adventures in Numberland.
Christina Marsh Assistant Curriculum Leader Mathematics said: “Our students really enjoyed taking part in the challenge which is a fun way of stretching them further. At Harrow Way our levels of achievement are already very strong for the more able in Mathematics with 95% achieving expected levels of progress, a result matched or bettered by few schools locally. The students’ performance is indicative of the high standards of teaching and learning here.â€
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. 25 multiple choice questions have 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.