Regional Champions of Maths Challenge

Four pupils from Years 7 & 9 will travel to London in the summer term to represent BRGS at the National Final of the UKMT (United Kingdom Mathematics Trust) Team Challenge competition.

Jason Diamantis and Joseph Nogbou (both Year 7) and Matt Denham and Edward Glover (Year 9) came through a Regional Final at Manchester University on Wednesday 23^rd March as joint-winners with Altrincham Girls Grammar.

This meant they qualified for the National Final at the Royal Horticultural Halls in London on Monday 20^th June and in doing so, became the first BRGS team to reach this stage of the competition.

The UKMT Team Challenge comprises four rounds of puzzles and problems which require pupils to apply their mathematical knowledge and aptitude in a variety of different ways.

The most challenging round is the CrossNumber in which the team work in pairs to complete either the across clues or the down clues; the difficulty is provided by some across clues requiring down answers and vice versa.

The Shuttle round provides further challenge as the answer to each question is used in the next question, before an overall final answer is reached. Just one mistake can throw the whole sequence, which means the pupils have to start again from where that mistake occurred.

Maths teacher Mr Wilbraham, who accompanied the team to the Regional Final, said: “We are extremely proud of what the pupils achieved and are really looking forward to showcasing our talents at the National Final in London.

“We knew we were in the top five after the first two rounds, but the boys continued to produce the same standard after the lunch break and were confident they had done quite well.

“It was really nerve-wracking waiting for the results’ announcement, but then a sense of relief and pride came over all of us when we learned we were joint-winners.

“The team found all the rounds challenging, but worked together really well and used all their different skills and experience to answer virtually everything correctly.”