This term Maths has hit new heights in the various senior UK Maths Trust (UKMT) competitions with a number of notable successes.

On 25 September, 11 female further mathematicians took part in the Mathematical Olympiad for Girls, a first in Mill Hill School's history. After a gruelling 2.5 hours to tackle just 5 questions, we are delighted by their achievement.

Six received a Merit award, and even more impressively, Jennifer X, Rachael P, and Yihan D (Best in School) achieved the coveted Distinction award.

Following on from this success, a number of pupils from Year 11 to Upper Sixth took part in the Senior Maths Challenge (SMC) on Tuesday 1st October. A traditional competition taken part in nationwide, we had a notable increase in entries this year and this resulted in a record breaking 48 pupils achieving a certificate, more than the total number of entries for last year!

Particular congratulations go to Louis S, who achieved Best in School despite being in Year 11 and to Gordon C and Ife A for being Best in their respective year groups.

As a result of their excellent scores, four pupils subsequently took part in the Senior Kangaroo and two pupils the British Mathematical Olympiad (BMO), the two follow-on rounds for the SMC.

With the results for the Kangaroo newly released, we are pleased to announce that Ed F achieved the top award in the competition with a score of 55. The BMO results are yet to be released, at the time of writing, but we will continue to keep our fingers crossed for Gordon and Louis and celebrate these in due course.

In Team news, six pupils from A Level Further Maths pitted their wits against the fiendish puzzles of the Ritangle Competition. This is a national competition for pupils aged 16-18 with questions spanning multiple strands of mathematics. The team worked together to successfully tackle 28 questions and reached Stage 3, the final stage of the competition, finishing in the top third of all teams competing. They showed real resilience and ingenuity throughout the challenge and we are very proud of their achievements.

Emma Lockhart
Head of Mathematics