Mathematics Challenges

Mathematics Challenges
Each year we take part in the UK School Mathematics Challenges and Olympiads. These give our pupils the
opportunity to see a different style of mathematics and allow them to broaden their experience of such questions.
These involve pupils at Senior, Intermediate and Junior level:
Senior Olympiad (Years 12, 13)
At this level the system is quite elaborate. Any who excel in the first Olympiad event (called BMO 1) are invited to
take part in a second (BMO 2), and there are further events to follow (such as UKMT National Mathematics Summer
Schools), eventually leading to the international competition. In recent years we have had boys gaining Distinctions
in the Olympiads and one being invited to be a team leader at the National Mathematics Summer School.
Intermediate Olympiad (Years 9, 10, 11)
Boys consistently gain Distinctions in the Olympiads at this level; two have also been invited to attend the National
Mathematics Summer School.
Junior Olympiad (Years 7, 8)
Again boys have gained Distinctions in the Junior Olympiad most years
Team Challenges
We now also regularly put teams in for the UK Team Maths Challenges, which also take place at Senior, Intermediate
and Junior level. In recent years we have often won the regional heats at each age level and progressed onto the
National Finals. In these Finals we have always performed extremely well; such results as winning the Eastern Final
at Intermediate level, coming 3rd at Junior level, improving to 16th at the highly competitive Senior level all
encourage those pupils involved and help them to develop their own Mathematics skills outside the classroom.
Hillingdon Mathematics Challenge
We also take part in the Hillingdon Mathematics Challenge. This allows our 3rd and U3rd (Years 7 and 8) to get
involved at a more local level, as well as with the UK Challenges. This takes place towards the end of our summer
term and culminates in a mathematical evening and inter-school competition for all the local Hillingdon school
teams. Recent results here have been very encouraging, including winning it twice and coming 3rd another year.

Mentoring Sheets and Lectures
Alongside these challenges we also take part in a mentoring scheme which allows pupils to get a more continuous
involvement with such mathematics and with questions which are more taxing.
We have arranged various visits and lectures including Royal Institution sessions for 4th form (Year 9), IMO and
Royal Institution lectures to the L6 and U6, Brunel University lectures to the L6 and Maths Inspiration Lectures to the
L6 and U6 in London and Cambridge.
Hans Woyda Competition
Each year we take part in the inter-school Hans Woyda competition. It takes place during the Autumn and Spring
terms. The first rounds are in the form of a league with (reasonably) local schools. Progress to the later knock-out
rounds depends on the final league positions. A team has 4 members consisting of different aged pupils and
provides an ideal opportunity for pupils to meet other similarly minded ones from other schools and enjoy the
challenge of participating in such a competition. In recent years we have usually won our league and then
progressed as far as the semi-finals. We have also won the final of the Plate Competition.
House Mathematics Competition
We have also developed our own House Mathematics Competition which takes place once a year in the Autumn
term. Each House provides a team of four consisting of a Sixth former, a Middle School pupil and two Lower School
pupils. There are three rounds to the knock-out competition and each round has five sections. The first four
sections each contain individual questions to each competitor. One section is mental arithmetic; for the others,
paper is allowed, and one section involves the use of calculators. The final section is a race between corresponding
members of each team.
The event is always very popular and allows boys to represent their Houses in a way which is different from a lot of
the House competitions.
Websites
We encourage the intelligent use of IT resources to enhance Mathematics learning. Recommended websites are:
http://nrich.maths.org
http://www.plus.maths.org
http://www.MyMaths.co.uk