A group of top maths students from CATS Cambridge travelled to Northampton to take part in the CATS Global Schools Inter-school Maths Challenge, hosted this year at Bosworth Independent School. At the school students were joined by the current trophy holders from Guildhouse School London. Both schools are part of the wider group of CATS Global schools and the inter-school maths challenge is a chance for students compete across the group.
This is the second year of the Inter-school Maths Challenge where students take part in team maths activities which both ramp up the need for fast mathematics and great teamwork.
The challenge is comprised of two parts. To begin students completed a ‘CrossNumber’, which is like a crossword that’s all about numbers. Each school split into two teams and each of these teams would only receive half of the clues – across or down. They needed to rely on the other half of the group to fill in the gaps, which they’ll need to finish part one of the challenge.
Killian, Bugatt, Kirill, Boca, Duc, Swan, Brandon and Shafiyyah made up our CATS Cambridge Teams.
Up next was the Shuttle Round. Our team of students had to solve a maths problem and then pass their answer to the second CATS Cambridge team, who using the answer needed to work out what the question was and pass it back. It was a fantastic competition for those who like the pressure and collaboration that is required to succeed.
By the end of the competition things were neck and neck between us here at CATS Cambridge and our host, Bosworth Independent School, with just a couple of points dividing us.
While Bosworth Independent School took home the trophy, completing the challenge with a score of 93. CATS Cambridge we ended with an impressive 91. Guildhouse School scored an excellent 73.
Students and staff really enjoyed the day. It was a great opportunity to work collaboratively and competitively in mathematics, not something that is always possible in the classroom. The problems were challenging but, with impressive perseverance, our students performed very well in solving them. In the end, the result was very close; the winning team did so by just one point.
Students and staff really enjoyed the day. It was a great opportunity to work collaboratively and competitively in mathematics, not something that is always possible in the classroom. The problems were challenging but, with impressive perseverance, our students performed very well in solving them. In the end, the result was very close; the winning team did so by just one point.
