Olympiad challenge for maths students

Maths has been top of the class for Wisbech students who have been taking part in tough challenges in the subject recently.

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​A group of four students from the Thomas Clarkson Academy, three in Year 13 and one in Year 12, took part in the Mathematical Olympiad for Girls and it was the first time merits had been achieved in the programme the school has recently joined.

“The Olympiad is a great contest for our girls to take part in. We want to encourage young women to take up further studies in maths subjects as their education progresses. Girls are often under-represented in this field and they are just as capable as their male counterparts,” said maths teacher Mrs Dani Stevenson.

A larger group of students across Years 11 to 13 took part in the Senior Maths Challenge which was also organised by the UK Mathematical Trust, and encourages a variety of skills including precision of thought and reasoning.

Usually students in Years 12 and 13 take part, but this year there were some Year 11 students for the first time.

“The Senior Maths Challenge is always a difficult test and it was good to see so many of our students taking part this year. There were some very positive outcomes from the Year 11 students alongside the achievements of those of their older peers,” said Mrs Stevenson.

Among the participants were James Youngs, of Year 13, who was awarded Best in School and a gold certificate. He was also invited to take part in the Andrew Jobbings Senior Kangaroo, an invitational maths challenge also organised by the UK Mathematics Trust. 

Year 11’s Klavs Arbidans was awarded Best in Year along with a bronze certificate and in Year 12 Thomas Green was Best in Year and he received a silver certificate.

The girls in the Olympiad all received certificates for participating in the challenge, which is a tough two-and-a-half hour written test. The Olympiad is an annual contest designed to encourage girls and young women to tackle advanced maths problems and explain their solutions in written sentences.

Around 2,200 students from across the country took part in the event this year.

The full list of Senior Maths Challenge students is: Year 11 - Klavs Arbidans, Jasleen Dhillon Kaur, Kory Morgan, Monika Sabaliauskaite, Cushan Urquhart, Max Walencik; Year 12 - Thomas Green and Pijus Lucinskas; Year 13 - James Youngs, Cody Derry, Kristupas Karkalas, Aaron Malkin, Rhys Morgan, Emma Towler and Alexis Waters.