Published at 12:30, Tuesday, 27 November 2012

TOP junior school mathematicians from Furness have competed in the second round of a national contest.

PROBLEM SOLVERS: Roose School pupils, from left, Remmie Carter, Sydney Henderson, Jeremy Hollstein and Jake Kell JON GRANGER REF: 50041324B000

Four primary schools qualified for round two of the National Young Mathematicians’ Award 2012.

Ulverston Victoria High School is hosting the competition, designed by Explore Learning in conjunction with NRICH at the University of Cambridge, to celebrate talented mathematicians from across the UK.

Schools nationwide have been asked to enter their top four mathematicians – two boys and two girls.

The first round included 10 schools and four primaries making it to round two, held last week, were Greengate Junior School and Roose School, Barrow, Burlington CE Primary School, Kirkby, and Our Lady of Furness Catholic Federation, which includes Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Primary School, Dalton, and St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Ulverston.

Their task was a high level fractions problem, based on a theme of snake. They are also marked for their presentation and communication skills shown during the task.

The open ended problems are a different way of working from what the children are used to in school.

Lin McIntosh, the community maths co-ordinator at UVHS and head of sixth form maths, said: “They were all very engaged and more confident than in the first round.”

Since the last round quite a few of the teachers had used other NRICH tasks.

All the pupils received medals.

The top five highest scoring schools around the country will be invited to compete in the grand final at the Centre for Mathematical Sciences at the University of Cambridge.

The award will be presented to the winning team by Rachel Riley, of the popular word and puzzle TV show Countdown.

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