The annual Maths Olympiad for western primary schools, sponsored by Nationwide International, produced its closest ever finish at the QE2 High School.
Three teams were separated by just four points at the end of an afternoon of solving a series of mathematical problems designed to test the ability of nine primary school teams taking part in the fourth staging of the Olympiad.
The eventual winners, St John’s School, had not made a good start after the first round of questions and looked to be out of the running trailing with the joint second lowest score.
However, they rallied with three high scores in the following rounds and by the start of the final round three teams were separated by just one point. St John’s just managed to sneak victory by one point from Foxdale School, with Ballaugh School finishing third and only four points covering the top three.
It’s the second time St John’s have won the Olympiad, having claimed victory in 2015 and finishing runners up in 2016. Nine teams took part this year - two each from Peel Clothworkers and Marown, and one each from St John’s, Ballaugh, Foxdale, Kirk Michael and Bunscoill.
The event is annually hosted by QE2 High School in their assembly hall under the supervision of Head of Mathematics Olivia Graham and senior students assigned to help each team. She said the first three teams this year had done particularly well, especially Foxdale and Ballaugh who were the smallest schools taking part in the competition.
David Findlay, senior marketing manager for Nationwide International, said, “We have supported this competition since it started, and there was again a great atmosphere in the assembly hall as the competition reached its climax, and you could see the genuine enthusiasm from the children. Nationwide International is very pleased to have been involved once again.”
Photo - The winning St John’s team - Isaac Allan, Edward Brew, Jasmine Scott and Megan Haynes - with QE2 student Amy Sutton of QE2, and Head of Mathematics Olivia Graham and David Findlay of Nationwide International.
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