On 29th January 150 students from Upper IV to Upper V took part in the Intermediate Maths Challenge, and 103 gained either Bronze, Silver or Gold certificates. 5 marks are awarded for questions 1-15 and 6 marks for questions 16-25. But beware, 1 mark is deducted for incorrect answers to questions 16-20, and 2 marks off for questions 21-25. If you get above 72 marks, you achieve a Gold certificate and entrance to the next level; either the Grey or Pink Kangaroo rounds on the 20th March. I am pleased to say that 9 will sit the Grey Kangaroo and 5 will enter the prestigious Pink Kangaroo. Well done everyone.

On 13th February, a group of four students (2 Lower IV and 2 Upper IV) took part in the Team Maths Challenge, this time at Queen Anne’s School. 18 other schools competed from the local area and the four rounds included a group round, a cross number, a shuttle and a relay. The group round comprised of a set of questions to be completed and checked by the team, encouraging plenty of discussion and lateral thinking. The cross number split the team so that half had the across and the other half had the down questions. The shuttle was four rounds of four questions. Each question in the round relies on the answer before. Finally the relay saw the team split again and running up and down the hall, delivering questions and answers within the time limit.
The students reported: ‘It was a great opportunity and it challenged us a lot, especially the relay where we had to run a lot! We really enjoyed the cross number, and only dropped two marks out of 56! Overall, we came 9th place. We communicated quite well with each other and used lots of teamwork. It was an amazing experience and we all had lots of fun!’

Aryakka, Jennifer, Livia, and Yuqi