FOUR King’s Ely students have made school history by reaching the national finals of the UK Team Maths Challenge.
King’s Ely Senior students Benedict George and Thomas Kim, both 14, and King’s Ely Junior pupils George Goodfellow, 13, and Eleanor MacGillivray, both 13, won the regional finals of the annual competition, which were held at The King’s School in Peterborough earlier this month.
A total of 22 schools took part in the regional finals and the competition on the day was very strong. However, Benedict, Thomas, George and Eleanor scored solidly in every single round and did particularly well in the mathematical crossword section of the competition, where they achieved a full score.
Following their success, the talented team will now compete in the national finals, which are being held at the Royal Horticultural Halls in London on June 19th. More than 1,700 schools entered the competition and only 88 have qualified for the finals. King’s Ely has been trying to qualify for the finals for many years and narrowly missed reaching them two years ago.
Head of Mathematics at King’s Ely, Audrienne Bezzine, is understandably proud of the team’s achievements. She said: “The competition was really nerve wrecking at the end. The presenter was reading third place, then second place, finally coming to the announcement ‘And the winners are… King’s Ely!’ It is a huge achievement to just get to the finals and I am really proud of these four students for what they have achieved. We are all wishing them the best of luck for the next round in June.”
The national finals of the UK Team Maths Challenge, which is run by the UK Mathematics Trust, involves teams of four pupils from Years 8 and 9 competing in hands-on maths problems, a series of shuttles in which the answer from one question feeds in to the next, a mathematical crossword, a relay race combining physical and mental agility and a separate poster competition based on a mathematical subject.