Over a hundred sixth form students have earned Bronze, Silver, and Gold certificates in the recent Senior Maths Challenge, a highly anticipated event designed to stretch students' mathematical thinking and problem-solving skills.
The competition, which took place earlier this month, featured 25 challenging questions aimed at encouraging resilience and ingenuity.
A total of 223 students from both Year 12 and year 13 participated, tackling topics that ranged from prime numbers, geometry, and fractions.
Head of Sixth Form, Hayley Doyne-Ditmas said: “Despite the complexity of the questions, students demonstrated remarkable perseverance. One of the more unique questions involved the "hat tile," an unusual mathematic shape that can tile a surface without creating a repeating pattern, and we were so impressed by their quick, lateral thinking.”
This year saw a record number of students achieving the coveted Gold certificate, granting them the opportunity to advance to the next stage of the competition—the notoriously difficult "Senior Kangaroo" round, which will be held in November. Known for its even stricter time limits and more complex questions, this follow-on challenge promises to put participants to the test.
Notable performances came from Grace Davis, a Year 13 Further Maths student, who topped the leaderboard with an impressive 103 points, and Year 12 student Aidan Worrall, who achieved a Gold certificate with 89 points, placing him among the top performers.