Wavell Year 6 Maths Challenge
by Nathaniel Dance & Turner Noad
It was lunchtime on Friday 27th September and the Year 9 helpers set the tables and chairs for the Year 6 children from South Farnborough, St. Mark’s, St Peter’s and Talavera Junior Schools who were due to arrive for the Wavell Year 6 Maths Challenge. This was completed quickly and efficiently without a fuss. All of the students were let in and registered in to red, black and blue teams; as well as being shown their Year 9 Wavell leader. To occupy the students before they started, the Year 9 helpers then gave out some starter questions to every team.
Round One, the Logic round, was underway and the teams set off working hard and answering most of the questions. All of the teams said that it was “fun and challenging”. They had 15 minutes to answer 25 questions, which proved that it was difficult as many teams failed to complete the challenge but gave it a valiant try.
Round Two was the Crossnumber challenge, in which teams had to complete a crossword with numbers instead of letters. 15 minutes was allocated to the teams for them to finish this round. Round two was shown to be one of the hardest rounds, as teams tried their best but no-one was able to complete the full Crossnumber.
Round Three was all about Speed. Teams were allocated 20 minutes to complete 25 questions, all worth 2 points each. Teams had different strategies of how they approached the questions. Some attempting them as a group of 4/5, and other teams splitting up the questions between individuals.
The Challenge ended with Round Four the Shuttle Relay, much like Round Three, where speed was vital for success. All teams were given a sheet, where they would answer the question and then walk quickly to their Team Leader for it to be checked. The round lasted 30 minutes in total.
During the well-earned refreshment break students were asked for their comments. One said “kind of hard, kind of easy”; “challenging” said another. When asked if there was anything they would like to redo, one team said they would “like to redo the Crossnumber…as we didn’t do our best on it”. Teams were then asked about how they felt as a whole about their performance and they said they found it “tough” though they were still proud of their achievement. Finally, teams were asked about the final challenge, in which they all said they were excited.
The event concluded with the winners being announced. In 1st place was St. Peter’s Red and in 2nd place was South Farnborough! All of the completing teams’ scores were very close, so well done to all the 39 students! Everyone went home with a Certificate to celebrate their participation.
The Year 6 Maths Challenge takes place thanks to the support of the UKMT (United Kingdom Mathematical Trust) in association with the University of Leeds. It is designed to push and test the mind by solving complex problems whilst still having fun.
We hope to see many more eager Year 6s in the following years to come.
