This week we had two teams compete in the annual Cantamath Teams Competition, which was held at Wolfbrook Arena, Addington - formerly known as Horncastle Arena.

The competition involved teams of four ākonga (students) attempting to quickly and accurately answering as many of the 20 mathematical problem-solving questions within 30 mins. There were approximately 70 teams in each of the Year 7 and Year 8 competitions. I was astonished with the calibre of highly talented mathematical minds on show and both of our teams achieved very admirable mid-pack results. The way in which our ākonga displayed the risk-taker, inquirer and knowledgeable Learner Profile traits was a real credit to them all.

Teams: Year 7 - Emmie J, Emmie W, Lienka M and Milly LYear 8 - Loretta L, Matthew C, William S C and Callum T D

Ākonga comments:
Year 7s - We thought that it was fun and challenging. Some of the questions were very difficult and it was important to avoid other students when running to deliver the answers to our marker.

Year 8s - It was fun, despite some of the questions being very difficult. It was quite challenging to stay focused with everything happening around us.

After a small delay (wrong question)
Example question: Create the largest number and the smallest number by rearranging all of the digits within 2023 and then add them together.

Answer: 3443