On Friday 26th January, 76 students from all of Cumbria Education Trust’s primary schools attended the CET Year 6 Maths Challenge, held at Workington Academy. Designed by Mr McAree, CET’s Maths School Improvement Lead, the challenge was split into five rounds of mathematical problems to solve, as well as a logic test and a KenKen puzzle.
The pupils were split into teams of four and each came up with their own team name and slogan. Multiplication Nation, A Fraction Ahead and Marvellous Mathematicians were some of the creative team names, along with slogans such as ‘United we calculate, divided we fall’ and ‘It’s no lie, we can multiply’. You can see all of the team names and slogans below.
After a welcome from Mr Bedford, Headteacher at Workington Academy, the competition began!
The first round saw ten Maths questions projected on the board, with each team working collaboratively to solve each puzzle. The second round included challenges where the teams could use their scientific calculators. There was also a music round and a relay round!
A team of Year 7 Workington Academy Ambassadors were on hand to offer Maths help to the teams and a team of Year 7 markers ensured the day ran smoothly.
Miss Tweddle, CET Student Events Lead, who organised the event, commented, “The event was a great success and it was really pleasing to see the Year 6 pupils working collaboratively together and challenging themselves whilst enjoying a taste of secondary school life. It was also great to see our Year 7 students taking a lead on the day. The young people were fantastic ambassadors for CET throughout and behaviour and engagement were exemplary. We are pleased that this event will now be added to our CET Student Events calendar and become an annual event for Year 6 students to look forward to.”
Mr McAree added, “This challenge is designed to help pupils to apply their extensive Maths knowledge to solving a variety of problems, while part of a team. The pupils showed real enthusiasm in the way they participated in the variety of challenges they were given. It is through problem-solving that Maths comes alive and pupils discover a passion for the subject, and the buzz during the challenge has shown just how alive their passion is for Maths. Each school can be very proud of how well the pupils applied their Maths knowledge to each round, and huge congratulations go to them for the positive engagement they have shown and, at times, their capacity for brilliance.”
Well done to Yewdale Primary School’s team called ‘Magnificient Mathematicians’ who came in first place, with Yanwath Primary School’s team ’90 Degrees’ coming in second and Hensingham Primary School’s team ‘The Logic Legends’ in third place. Every school were so well represented, and the behaviour and engagement of each team was impeccable throughout the day.
Thank you to Workington Academy for hosting the challenge, all our Year 7 student ambassadors for helping, Mr McAree for creating the Maths challenges, Miss Tweddle and Mrs Newman for organising this wonderful event and to Miss Goodridge for creating the event celebration video and capturing the action on camera!
Well done to all of the pupils who participated – it was a brilliant day enjoyed by all.
Full list of Year 6 Teams
School | Team Name | Slogan |
Caldew Lea Primary School | The Maths Masters | Every problem solved! |
Caldew Lea Primary School | The Calculating Champs | Every brain helps! |
Castle Carrock Primary School | A Fraction Ahead | You only know a fraction of what we do! |
Hensingham Primary School | The Logic Legends | United we calculate, divided we fall! |
Hensingham Primary School | Maths Magicians | It’s no lie, we can multiply! |
Longtown Primary School | Marathonmathematics | Run after the answers |
Newtown Primary School | Subtracting Snakes | Maths mastered! |
Newtown Primary School | Multiplication Nation | Mathemagicians! |
Newtown Primary School | Counting Criminals | Snatching answers! |
Northside Primary School | The Northside Denominators | Just Think! |
Petteril Bank School | The Four Operations | We’re the Sum Total of our Parts |
Tebay Primary School | The Calculators | Feel the Wrath of Math!! |
Yanwath Primary School | 90 Degrees | We are always right! |
Yanwath Primary School | Denominators | Together we are whole |
Yanwath Primary School | Number Ninjas | Kapow! |
Yewdale Primary School | Marvellous Mathematicians | We have our paper and pencil; we are ready to solve! |
Yewdale Primary School | Magnificent Mathematicians | Go good or go home! |
Yewdale Primary School | 100% Yewdale | We can solve it, we can work it out, we can face the challenge! |
Yewdale Primary School | Memorable Mathematicians | Work smarter, not harder! |
Year 7 Maths Ambassadors from Workington Academy
Hannah Dawson, Ashden Frazer, Minnie Hallard, Charlie Hurt, Dom McCarten, James McGowan, Samuel McLean, Lucy Martin, Dee Mattinson, Olivia Melville, Izzy Rigler and Bailey Young