Outstanding Mathematical Achievements for MTBS
It all adds up for Merchant Taylors’ Boys’ School’s Maths Department with a succession of outstanding achievements at national competitions.
Most recently, after taking part in the Regional Finals, Year 9 pupils David Xu, Shaun Fernando, George Farrar and Aakash Dharmaraj are through to the National Final of the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust (UKMT) Junior Maths Challenge which will be held in London in June. In what was a very close contest, against 30 other schools, the team came out on top after 4 rounds of combining teamwork and individual efforts to solve a myriad of maths problems. This achievement places the team into the top 60 schools in the country.
The UKMT Team Challenge aims to promote mathematical dexterity, teamwork and communication skills within a competitive environment. This marks the second such success within the last few months after a group of Sixth Form boys, Jack Zhou, Andy Park, Max Cadman and Dylan Wang, took part in the UKMT Senior Team Maths Challenge at Carnatic Halls, Liverpool University. After winning this regional competition they took part in the National Final last month and were placed within the top 40 schools in the UK.
Maths is at the core of the academic offering at Merchant Taylors’, last year 72% of boys achieved A*/A grades at GCSE with many boys taking their GCSEs a year early in Year 10. Individual successes in national competitions have been outstanding and just before Christmas 15 boys entered the UKMT Senior Individual Maths Challenge achieving 4 Golds, 2 Silvers and 6 Bronzes. David Xu who achieved a Gold has also qualified for the Senior British Math Olympiad. Jack Zhou, Jiaming Zhang and Tiantian Gao achieved Gold and qualified for the Senior Kangaroo Competition, which is sat by invitation only.
Headmaster David Cook said ‘to achieve so much at such a high level is testament to our boys’ abilities and their hard work. It also reflects the extremely high calibre of the maths being taught at Merchant Taylors’. ’
