Thursday 28th September saw the first Primary Team Maths Challenge take place at Northgate. 8 Primary Schools from our local area including Beeston, Garvestone, Thomas Bullock, Scarning, North Elmham, Great Witchingham, Hockering and St Peters in Easton joined us for this special event. Teams were made up of 4 confident mathematicians who faced 3 rounds of competition before the winners were announced.
The Group Round – thinking about strategies and discussing the questions.
As pupils arrived they started on the warm-up questions to get their brains in gear ready for the competition. Mrs Smith from the Maths Department welcomed everyone and explained the plan for the morning before handing over to Miss Theobald for instructions of the first round. This was the Group Round – pupils faced 10 problems in 30 minutes and could choose their strategy – all work on the same question at once or split the team to tackle more questions at a time. There were some tough questions here that made pupils think and dig deep into their Mathematical knowledge. It was great to hear the conversations and discussions about the questions.
Next up Mrs Smith introduced the Logic Round – 50 points were up for grabs here. Information about 5 families was given and pupils had to sort this and identify where information went in a grid. This was a popular round and a successful one for a number of the teams who scored full marks. Then it was time for a quick break and a chance to re-group and get ready for the final round. The scores were close so it was all to play for.
The energetic and face-paced Relay Round – lots of points on offer here.
The final round was the Relay Round – pupils were split into pairs within their teams and sat in different part of the room. Teachers were at the head of the room. Pair A had to run to the teacher to get their question – they had two chances to answer it correctly, running back to the teacher to check. If it was correct they were given the next question for pair B and had to take it to them. This continued with both pairs facing up to 10 questions each in the allotted time. This round was very frantic with pairs running to and fro, checking their answers and gaining those valuable points.
Year 9 Maths Ambassadors, Ellie, Elise, Ollie and Nathan, who had been helping with the proceedings, gathered the final answer sheets and scores were checked. Mrs Smith had the great pleasure to announce the results. In 3rd place – Scarning and 2nd place – North Elmham. Pupils were applauded and then it came to announce the winner. Mrs Graves, Head of Year 7 and transition, was on hand to present winners medals and a trophy to the first winners of the Northgate Primary Team Maths Challenge – Thomas Bullock. A jubilant team received their prize and posed for a winner’s photo.
Our Maths Ambassadors mentioned, ‘the day went really well – all of the pupils looked enthusiastic and they enjoyed it a lot. It was very competitive, particularly the relay. It was nice to see everyoe working together, trying to figure out the problems and they were all so well behaved!’
Congratulations to all who took part, all pupils received a certificate and Northgate pen and ruler for taking part in the competition. They all competed fantastically well and represented their schools in the best possible way. A big thank you to the Year 9 Ambassadors as well as Mrs Smith and Miss Theobald for organising the event and showcasing how much fun Maths can be – we now all look forward to next year’s competition!
The popular Logic Round and our Year 9 Maths Ambassadors.
Pupils from Thomas Bullock Primary School taking part in the challenges and receiving their medals and trophy.
