St Joseph’s College entered some of its most talented mathematicians in the prestigious World Class Tests in Mathematics and all passed. What is more, the Year 9 students all gained a distinction or merit. A distinction is an outstanding achievement and is only awarded to the top 5% of students worldwide.
The six distinctions gained by the College constitute the school’s best results in the 10 years it has taken part in the competition and bode very well for our talented students moving forward into their GCSE courses next year.
The Wold Class tests are designed to help recognise and compare talented mathematicians across the globe. The initiative was created by the Department for Education and the problems are set annually by leading universities across the world. Able students from the UK, USA, Australia, Dubai and Hong Kong aim to solve complex problems using mathematical skill and creative intelligence.
The test took a gruelling two-and-a-half hours to complete – longer than most individual A-level or GCSE exam takes – and had written and computer-based components.
The World Class Arena also compares the students’ overall performance internationally in each of the five Maths strands. The highest attainment by the St Joseph’s College girls and boys was in Number, Algebra and Geometry; all rated excellent and in the top 5%.
Distinction: Jessica Logan, Katie Rolph, Matilda Simpson, Sam Slatter, Memocan Topal, Ollie Wroe. Merit: Ethan Willetts
Mrs Clarke, Principal of St Joseph’s College, said, ‘St Joseph’s has a very strong record of success in Mathematics, with numerous students going on to study Maths and allied subjects at prestigious universities. This passion is fired up and fanned in the Prep School, where the children work towards ‘Maths Mastery’ using Singapore Maths, and onwards into the Senior school. Congratulations to our Year 9 students for putting their knowledge to the test in a global arena and performing so well under pressure.’
Junior UK Maths Challenge
On the same day, 33 talented mathematicians from Year 7 and Year 8 took part in the Junior UK Mathematics Challenge, a national event with the most able students taking part across the UK. It is designed to assess and stimulate creative mathematical problem solving. Our students have a good record of achieving well in this competition and we look forward to the results in due course. We are hoping for some Gold, Silver and Bronze certificates for the very highest scorers.
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