Number-crunching success for students

Year-13 further maths students Morgan Blake and Charlote Roberts joined year-12 students Jamie Luxford and Charlotte Gisbourne to represent the school in the maths competition on November 13.

Selected for their mathematical ability and problem-solving capabilities, the students competed against 17 other teams from a variety of schools across East and West Sussex.

They faced three rounds – a group competition, a cross number round, and a final relay race, where students worked in pairs to solve a problem before passing their answer to another pair, enabling them to solve their own question.

The students finished in fourth place and Morgan Blake said he was pleased with the result.

“This is the first time we have taken part in this kind of competition and it was really good fun,” he added.

Miss Louise Rannie, a maths teacher at Steyning Grammar School, said: “We were very pleased to finish fourth and hope to return next year and do even better.

“I am extremely proud of the students; they showed great teamwork and really enjoyed using their mathematical skills to represent the school.”

Mr Daniel Dryer, head of the maths faculty, said it was an ‘exceptional performance’ and ‘a testament to their hard work and fantastic ability’.

The competition came a week after 43 sixth-form students from the school completed the senior maths challenge, a multiple-choice paper organised by the UK Mathematics Trust.

Almost 75 per cent of Steyning students who entered gained a certificate, above the national average of 60 per cent.

Thomas Ranger scored the highest mark of 92, closely followed by Jamie Luxford with 91, and Morgan Blake and Charlotte Roberts with 90.

The four students, along with Charlotte Gisbourne, have now qualified for the next round, senior kangaroo, tomorrow.

Mr Dryer said: “We have a very large number of students studying maths at key stage five and these successes encourage everyone to feel inspired and positive about maths.”