Tuesday 23 May 2017 The results of the Junior Mathematics Challenge are in and Luke Rawsthorne Y8 tops the table at The Grammar School at Leeds (GSAL). Of 300,000 candidates worldwide just 1,200 of the top scorers are invited to sit the Junior Mathematical Olympiad, and Luke is the first GSAL student in three years to achieve this honour. The maths challenges and Olympiads are examinations organised by the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust, aimed at stimulating interest in maths in students of different ages. The junior challenge is a one hour multiple choice paper for pupils in Y7 and Y8 and the top 40% achieve a gold, silver or bronze certificate in the ratio 1:2:3. Luke said: “The maths challenge was somewhat difficult but we had done most of the maths in class and it definitely helped with our maths learning.” Out of 127 students who sat the challenge at GSAL, 79 achieved certificates (18 gold, 25 silver and 36 bronze). As well as Luke earning an invitation for the elite Junior Mathematical Olympiad, a further eight stellar performers qualified to sit another follow-on paper, the Junior Kangaroo. both follow-on rounds take place on 13 June. Riya Ooken was the top scorer in Y7 and the only one from the year group to qualify for the Kangaroo. She said: “It was challenging but fun at the same time because maths is my favourite subject, but I expect harder questions in the Kangaroo paper.” Joining Riya to sit the Kangaroo will be Y8 students Tyler Dyas, Thomas Flint, Thomas Ward, Hasnain Ahmad, James Cai, Mathew Walker and Agamya Gupta. General News Academic
