Twelve intelligent children from Newlands Intermediate competed in this year’s Regional Mathswell Competition at "The Hub", Victoria University.

We represented Newlands Intermediate (our school) in the Mathswell competition with 57 other teams. The mathematicians in team 1 were Muhammad, Gao Xing, Elsie, Miles, Niamh and Thea. Our second team’s mathematicians were Kingsley, Andy, Gabriel, Artur, Thomas and Jayden. The first team came 8th overall and the second team tied third - an amazing feat!

There are two parts to the competition: a 15 minute Problem Solving task involving 13 questions and a 10 minute Multi-choice task involving 15 questions. We worked in a group of 3 and our scores were combined with another group of 3 to make up the overall team score. At the halfway point of the competition both of our teams were in the top 20.  

Before the competition most of us felt quite nervous. For a lot of us, this was the first time competing in Mathswell. The competition itself was chaotic - people shouting numbers, people arguing, utter chaos. At least it was quieter than before! After the competition we were exhausted. All that hard work and energy…fed into the competition. Thank you to Whaea Leanne and Mr Simons for preparing us for the competition. Overall, it was an incredible experience.