A TEAM of four brainy youngsters from a York primary school have been crowned this year’s winners of the National Young Mathematicians’ Awards.

Year 6 pupils Junha Han, Arthur Sharpe, Eve Young and Jocelin Leites from Badger Hill School battled through three rounds to be named national maths champions, beating more than 490 schools to win the much sought-after title, making them the first York school to win the contest.

The competition, organised by tuition provider, Explore Learning and the NRICH Project at the University of Cambridge, saw the team take part in a difficult problem solving maths challenge against four other finalists.

Gavin Wilkinson, Year 6 teacher at Badger Hill, said: “Having qualified for the city finals last academic year, it was the aim of this year’s year sixes to get even further. They thoroughly enjoyed the two qualifying finals back in York and were delighted to qualify for the national finals.

"It has filled them with pride and confidence and it is wonderful to see them work so well together as a team, and be completely engaged in their learning.”

Eve’s mum, Rachael McMullen, said: “This great opportunity to be involved in the competition has given Eve a sense of enjoyment and confidence in her maths. She looked forward to all of the rounds and couldn’t believe that her team actually got through to the finals.”

While Arthur’s dad, John Sharpe said: “Arthur has absolutely loved this competition. He is a highly competitive, if good natured soul, and he has enjoyed both the challenge and the interaction involved. He has found the process safe as well, which is crucial. Win or lose, this has extended Arthur’s already large appetite for maths.”

The children were awarded their trophies by maths expert at the University of Cambridge, Dr Julia Gog and Paul Grosvenor from Explore Learning.

The main aim of the competition is to encourage children to see the fun that maths can bring and the potential that it can reach while building children’s confidence.

Paul Grosvenor, marketing director at Explore Learning, said: “With so many schools having entered the competition, Junha, Arthur, Eve and Jocelin did amazingly well to be named winners; their fellow pupils, teachers and parents should be hugely proud of them.”

The National Young Mathematicians’ Awards is the biggest maths competition for school teams in the UK, open to teams of four children - two boys and two girls aged nine to 11.

The other schools’ teams who made it to the final were Thatcham Park Primary School in Reading, St Christopher’s in Luton, Hurst Primary School in Sidcup and North Ealing Primary School in West London.