The QE2 School in Peel has been given an insight into the quality of future maths students who will be starting secondary school next September - and the prospects are looking very good, very good indeed!
A new initiative - the “Mathematics Olympiad” - sponsored by Nationwide International, gave Year 6 pupils from primary schools in the west of the Island the chance to test their mathematical skills with a series of challenges set by the QE2 Head of Mathematics Will Wood.
“We didn’t want to make it too difficult, but at the same time we didn’t want to make it too easy,” he said. “So, we set a number of different tasks, two number-based and two problem-solving. I have to say I was very impressed by the overall standard by all the teams.”
In fact, he said that he had given the same set of tasks to his 6th Form students at QE2, and the primary school children had achieved excellent results by comparison and, in some of the problem-solving puzzles, had achieved strikingly similar results.
Will Wood added, “It showed that when it comes to using logic to solve mathematical problems it doesn’t really matter about your age, or your experience - it’s simply whether your brain can solve the problem or not. On that basis, some of these children of primary school age were solving the problems at least a quickly as a 6th Form student.”
Following an afternoon of competition in the QE2 main hall, where teams from Foxdale, St John’s, Ballaugh, Peel Clothworkers’, Marown, Michael and the Bun Scoill were all represented, the winning team, by a narrow margin, was Peel Clothworkers’ - comprising Alex Heaton, Jack Gentry, Jacob Leece, Caleb Schade, Gemma Simons and Leah Caren.
They received a trophy to be displayed in their school for a year, together with an individual prize for all the team members, presented by Amanda Park from Nationwide International’s marketing department.
“We already have a connection with QE2 School through our annual GCSE Mathematics Award, but this was a new idea and was clearly a major success, enjoyed by all the schools taking part,” said Seamus Byrne of Nationwide International.
“The Mathematics Olympiad was a new and innovative event and we were delighted to be involved.”
Photo - The winning Peel Clothworkers School team with Amanda Park of Nationwide International and QE2 Head of Mathematics Will Wood.
