FOUR King’s Ely students have made school history by competing in the national finals of a prestigious Maths competition.
King’s Ely Junior pupils Eleanor MacGillivray and George Collier, both aged 13, and King’s Ely Senior students Thomas Kim and Benedict George, both aged 14, won the regional finals of the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust’s (UKMT) Team Maths Challenge earlier this year.
As a result, they were one of only 88 teams out of more than 1,700 students who entered to qualify for the national finals, which were held at the Royal Horticultural Halls in London on June 18th.
It is the first time in the school’s history that a King’s Ely team has qualified for the national finals and Thomas, Benedict, George and Eleanor were placed 42nd on the day, which puts them in the top 2 per cent nationally.
The finals proved to be challenging yet great fun for the team. There were a series of rounds they had to complete, each involving different types of teamwork and problem solving. The rounds included a group circus, a shuttle, a cross number, a relay race (involving both running and maths) and a poster competition. The King’s Ely team had the most success in the cross number round, only losing one mark.
Head of Mathematics at King’s Ely, Audrienne Bezzina, said: “We are so proud of Eleanor, George, Benedict and Thomas. To get to the national finals is a massive achievement in itself so to be placed in the top half of the teams who qualified is amazing.”