Last Thursday evening, Year 7 pupils from various local schools visited Shiplake to partake in the Junior Maths Challenge. Pupils from Reading Blue Coat, Lambrook and The Beacon took part in the competitive mathematics challenge to determine the winning team.
The brightest Y7 mathematicians Shiplake had to offer were Ben Hutt, Jasper Yates, Monty Wallace and Tejpal Grewal who unfortunately didn't win, but had a brilliant time regardless. Below is the report written by Jasper and Monty:
As we arrived in the Great Hall, so did the first of our competitors. We knew this was going to be difficult and we were in for the test to challenge everything we had learned in Maths. First to arrive was Kendrick School, bringing a team of two girls, followed by The Beacon with one girl and one boy and so on until finally Reading Blue Coat’s 4 duos arrived.
The competition opened with a speech from Mr Lehane-Kendrick, followed by a speech by Head of Maths Mr Muhley. Then, before we knew it, the competition had begun with a challenging first round of 'say what you see'. Leaving Blue Coat at the top with a score of 12, and The Piggott School at the bottom with a score of 1 and Shiplake not far off with 2 scores of 2-3.
The next round contained more practical questions, Allowing the Shiplake teams to get the edge we needed to aim for a higher position and get the win. This round held some good opportunities for us, yet we did not do as well as hoped, meaning Piggott overtook us. Luckily, we managed to overtake Beacon school, leaving Newtons with a strong score of 6 and Lighbertz with 7.
The third round was when the pressure really started getting to us as this was a 12-question 'clock quiz'. This segment of the Maths Challenge was really difficult, but apparently not for Reading Blue Coat, who finished the round with a total of 39 points, beating us by quite a lot...
Finally we reached level 4 of question relay which was the hardest yet. Sadly, this lead to some people giving up at the very end! In the end, Blue Coat Lighbertz left as the overall winners Kendrick leaving with second and Blue Coat A with third.
This was an overall incredible learning experience for all and great fun as well.
Report provided by Year 7 pupils Jasper Yates and Monty Wallace
