News / The north’s top young number crunchers
FOUR young secondary pupils in Shetland have won celebrity status at their school for coming top in a maths contest in Aberdeen.
The 12 and 13 year olds from Lerwick’s Anderson High School surprised themselves when they beat fierce competition in the regional final of the annual UK Mathematical Trust’s Junior Team Maths Challenge on Monday.
S2 boys Jack Tait from Tingwall and Fyntan Shaw from Fair Isle, along with S1 girls Lois Ross and Louise Cluness from Lerwick beat 17 teams from state and private schools across the north of Scotland.
The clever quartet have now qualified for the national UK finals in London on 17 June, where they will take on the winners from 60 regional contests across the country.
The Shetland team started off strongly at Monday’s event in Aberdeen University’s Elphinstone Hall, scoring full marks in the first round.
They ended the day with 210 points, a full 11 points ahead of their toughest rivals from Robert Gordon’s College.
AHS head teacher Valerie Nicolson said the foursome had attracted a lot of interest in the school on their return to the classroom on Tuesday, but were taking it in their stride.
“The school is so proud of these youngsters’ achievements at national level. Everyone is speaking about it today,” she said.
“We’ve entered the competition for a number of years, and have had some good results, but never a win because this is a very competitive region.
“They are just amazed and delighted and so excited that they are going to London, so we are going to have to do a bit of fund raising to get them there.”
The teams were faced with a range of problem solving challenges, which they had to work together to complete as quickly as possible.
The teams thanked their maths teacher Trina Stirling who travelled to Aberdeen with them.
Become a supporter of Shetland News
Shetland News is asking its many readers to consider start paying for their dose of the latest local news delivered straight to their PC, tablet or mobile phone.
Journalism comes at a price and because that price is not being paid in today’s rapidly changing media world, most publishers - national and local - struggle financially despite very healthy audience figures.
Most online publishers have started charging for access to their websites, others have chosen a different route. Shetland News currently has over 600 supporters who are all making small voluntary financial contributions. All funds go towards covering our cost and improving the service further.
Your contribution will ensure Shetland News can: -
- Bring you the headlines as they happen;
- Stay editorially independent;
- Give a voice to the community;
- Grow site traffic further;
- Research and publish more in-depth news, including more Shetland Lives features.
If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please become a supporter of Shetland News by either making a single payment or monthly subscription.
Support us from as little as £3 per month – it only takes a minute to sign up. Thank you.
Already a supporter? Sign in to hide this message.
