Junior Maths Challenge 2023

Thirteen Year 7 and Year 8 pupils at BRGS recently proved themselves to be among the best young mathematicians in the country.

The pupils scored so highly in the Junior Mathematical Challenge in April that they were invited by the UKMT (United Kingdom Mathematics Trust) to sit a follow-on paper called the Junior Kangaroo.

This is the highest amount of Junior Kangaroo qualifiers BRGS has ever had and the number included four pupils from Year 7.

One of the Year 7 pupils, Jake, was the school’s highest scorer on the Kangaroo, with a magnificent 107 marks out of a maximum 135.

He received a Merit certificate, as did four other pupils who passed the Merit threshold – Vincent (Year 8, 102), Ziyad (Year 7, 101) and Anna (Year 8, 99).

Prior to the Kangaroo paper, the Maths Department had entered 55 pupils from Year 7 & Year 8 for the Junior Mathematical Challenge (JMC).

We usually only enter Year 8 pupils for this competition, but this year we also decided to invite 14 pupils from Year 7.

Each of the Year 7 pupils did exceptionally well and all achieved at least a Bronze certificate, with the aforementioned Jake and Kayden winning Gold, along with Jacob and Florence.

The Year 8 entrants also performed to an extremely high standard, with nine of them scoring enough points for a Gold certificate.

The best of them was Anna, who was the overall top BRGS scorer on the JMC with 99 points, and she was joined on the top podium by Thomas, Amy, Benjamin, Vincent, Gabriella, Oliver, Lily and Ziyad.

Around 300,000 pupils in Year 8 or below from across the UK sat this Challenge, with roughly the top 7% receiving a Gold certificate, 13% Silver and 21% Bronze.

32% of the BRGS entrants received Gold, 44% Silver and 21% Bronze.

Maths teacher Mr Wilbraham, who organises the Challenges, said: “The Junior Maths Challenge results were again excellent this year.

“We are especially pleased for the Year 7 pupils we invited to take the Challenge, as they have only been at BRGS since last September, but have demonstrated a fantastic aptitude for Maths and a willingness to push themselves beyond their normal classroom learning.

“The UKMT questions test some abstract concepts and require thinking beyond what they would normally do in lessons.

“Given that pupils are now expected to answer more problem-solving questions, the UKMT Maths Challenges are excellent preparation for GCSE and A level.”

 

Pictured are the Year 7 and Year 8 Gold and Junior Kangaroo certificate winners.