Every year, A Level students from Shrewsbury Colleges Group take part in the UK Mathematics Trust (UKMT) Individual Senior Maths Challenge.
When taking part in this national competition, mathematical knowledge is challenged in unconventional ways, which encourages the students to learn valuable problem-solving skills.
Practice materials were made available for all the students to access from early in the autumn term, enabling them to be well-prepared to enter the challenge.
In November, 40 students from both year groups took part in the prestigious competition, which was completed online this year. The students did fantastically well, with 10 achieving a bronze award, 18 achieving a silver award and 7 achieving a gold award.
Achieving a gold award in the Senior Maths Challenge qualifies students to compete in the follow-on challenge, which is called the Senior Kangaroo. Six students went on to compete in this challenge in early December.
The six students who competed in the Senior Kangaroo competition.
Three of these students did exceptionally well and achieved a merit award in the Kangaroo competition. The students who achieved merit awards were: Jossie McKenzie (Year 1), Kyle Ruff (Year 2) and Travis Wood (Year 2). The merit awards are reserved for only the top 25% of students who take part nationally.
On Tuesday 8 March, the A Level Maths students gathered in Priory Hall at Welsh Bridge Campus where their awards were presented to them by Head of Maths, Chris Luther, and the Principal, James Staniforth.
Chris Luther had high praise for all the competitors, saying: “I’m delighted that so many students chose to take on the challenge of this prestigious competition, which they really enjoyed competing in. The students demonstrated brilliant mathematical talent and problem-solving skills and their dedication resulted in them achieving an excellent set of awards. Taking part in this challenge has enhanced the students’ mathematical skills and will prepare them well for future study in college and beyond.”
James Staniforth also emphasised the importance of the Senior Maths Challenge as an event that makes the students stronger mathematicians. He said: “It was a pleasure to be able to recognise the achievement of so many of our students who took part in these challenges. Exam success is often the only visible measurement of a student’s hard work, but competitions like these do demonstrate the mathematical skills, knowledge and effort of the students.”
He continued: “The last two years have been particularly tough on young people, so to have a competition which required interaction with other students is fantastic.”