Biggest schools maths test works out very well

A CROYDON school put on the borough's biggest ever maths quiz last Wednesday.

A total of 144 children – in 24 teams of six – went head to head at Park Hill Juniors, in Stanhope Road.

The youngsters from 12 primary schools were divided into two sets – Years 3 and 4, and Years 5 and 6 – who competed in the morning and afternoon respectively.

Each team was given 30 multiple choice questions, with only 30 seconds to answer each one.

Competitors and their supporters could see their answers on a large projector, which also calculated the winning teams.

A team from St James the Great, in Thornton Heath, won the younger category, and a team from St Mary's Juniors, in West Croydon, the older category.

Simon Yearley, the maths teacher who organised the event, was pleased his two Park Hill teams were runners-up in both age groups.

He said: "We had a hall full of Croydon's best and brightest minds in maths – it was a very exciting occasion.

"We hold maths competitions each year, but this is the first time we opened the quiz to Year 3 and 4 children, and the response was terrific.

"There were 400 people on the day, including teachers, pupils and parents, which was logistically challenging, but it ran pretty smoothly.

"This is to my knowledge the biggest quiz event ever organised in the history of Croydon schools."

The other schools that were represented at the event were Keston, St Aidan's, Rowdown, Applegarth, Good Shepherd, St Peter's, Woodside, Purley Oaks and St Chad's.