Multiplying Enthusiasm in Maths at Primary Maths Challenge

Key Stage 2 pupils from all our Inspiration Trust primary schools attended a day of challenging and fun-filled maths activities, aiming to develop collaborative working and problem-solving skills. Through deduction, logic and mathematical reasoning pupils were able to tackle some very involved tasks with great success.

Director of Maths, Nicola Coe, said

“Everyone is a winner at these events, it is fantastic to see pupils working together and enjoying the challenges. We are lucky that the Trust supports us to offer these exciting opportunities. I would like to thank the central team maths teachers and the support team who work so hard behind the scenes to make the day a pleasure for all.”

The day started with the ‘Relay Race’, building teamwork and collaboration. Year 3 began the challenge by working out an answer to a mathematical problem. Year 4 required the year 3 answer in order to complete their problem, and they passed their answer to year 5 and so on. The interconnected use of the answers put pressure on the pairs of pupils to get their answer right to enable their team to maximise their points. Pupils were excited to get involved and work together as a team to embrace the challenge.

The second challenge continued to require teamwork but added an extra leadership element. The ‘Square Challenge’ required teams to create as many squares as possible inside a grid. Pupils needed significant spatial reasoning to ‘see’ all the squares in different orientations. Points were scored for creating the highest number of squares and teams that could think outside the box were the most successful.

Just before the break, teams were set the classic ‘Padlock Challenge’. The pupils in each year group battled against each other to find a code to unlock a padlock. By answering mathematical problems pupils could find clues to the code, the more questions they got right the easier the code was to break. The first team to get the correct code could race to the front to unlock a padlock and win ten bonus points!

The ‘Jigsaw Challenge’ followed, which tested teamwork and spatial reasoning. With three levels of difficulty teams were required to complete three rectangular jigsaws made up of coloured squares. Time was not on the pupils side however, the quicker they completed the task the more points they could score. It was fantastic to see everyone working together to turn the pieces in a systematic way.

Before lunch everyone took part in the ‘Eliminator’, a head-to-head challenge where individual mental maths skills were put to the test. The year groups were separated for the first time in the day and the sixteen pupils in each year group worked hard to answer questions correctly to remain in the game. Speed and accuracy were required to avoid elimination as the questions became increasingly difficult. The challenge continued until there was one person remaining, and points were awarded to those who were competing for the longest.

After lunch the teams regrouped and prepared themselves for the final task, the ‘Practical Challenge’. Pupils worked in pairs to answer mathematical problems and collect a series of numbers presented on different sea creatures. Once the numbers had been found the pupils had to follow some clues to put the numbers in the correct order on the legs of four octopuses. Using the four octopuses collectively, the pupils could find the final code of the day to win points. Figuring out the right answer against the clock was key in this fast-paced fishy task!

All the pupils enjoyed the day and were rewarded with a mathematical ‘goodie bag’. All teams deserved to win and the points couldn’t have been closer, the eventual winners by just two points were Norwich Primary Academy, with Charles Darwin Primary in second place and Stradbroke Primary Academy a very respectable third.

Outreach Lead, Tom Marjoram said:

"It was so much fun to see all of the students so engaged with the different challenges that we had on display. They worked really well together as teams and showed excellent perseverance if they didn’t get the solution straight away. Our thanks goes to the schools for providing students with the opportunity to attend. Congratulations to Norwich Primary Academy, we can’t wait until next year where they will defend the trophy!"