A team of five top mathematicians from the 5th and 6th Forms has won the Surrey Schools Maths Challenge in impressive style on their debut in the competition. 

21 schools took part, including teams from Tiffin Girls, Sutton Grammar, Wallington, Trinity and Caterham, but none could match the KGS team, who won by what Head of Maths Mr Cooper modestly called ‘a considerable margin’. 

The team of Iain Mandale, Richard Rees, Andrew Rogers, Freddie Wright and Jihoon Lee arrived at Kingston University in good heart, having been told by Mr Cooper that they should expect to win. They duly delivered! 

The team produced perfect answers to 12 extremely demanding questions, scoring 120 marks out of 120, and drawing high praise from those charged with marking the paper. They followed up with a nearly flawless multiple-choice round to be declared Surrey Schools Maths Challenge winners for 2010, receiving warm applause from their rivals and winners’ certificates from one of the Kingston University lecturers. 

Mr Cooper was thrilled by the performance. ‘Mathematics at the top of our school is now very strong,’ he said. ‘For example, our Inter-School Maths Quiz Team recently reached the quarter-final of the Hans Woyda competition, which includes all the top London schools. It was a tremendous performance to win this competition so convincingly. Congratulations to everyone, and we look forward to defending our crown next year!’