CHILDREN at a primary school in Colchester scooped first place in regional heat of a maths competition.

Schools across the town battled it out with others to be crowned best in the region in the

National Young Mathematicians Awards.

The semi-finals took place at the Explore Learning Centre in Colchester.

Ten schools took part and St Thomas More’s School pupils were crowned champions.

The team was made up of Ekene Utti, Julia Wojciechowska, Eoin Ledwidge, Laurence Todd who are all in Year 6.

The school said it was thrilled about the pupils’ success.

Schools had competed in a previous round with the top ten winning their way through to the semi-final.

Charlotte Gater, head of curriculum at Explore Learning, said: “This year’s competition was the biggest yet with over 1,200 schools taking part so the regional winners have done incredibly well to be crowned their local champions.

“We saw an amazing array of maths skills on display where youngsters worked as a team, excelled in logical thinking and, most importantly, had fun while learning.

“A massive well done to all those who took part.”

A total of ten teams of bright sparks from across the region will now compete in the grand final at the University of Cambridge on January 9.

The full list of schools in the final will be revealed later this month.

The final showdown will be overseen by University Challenge legend, TV presenter and author Bobby Seagull who is Explore Learning’s National Young Mathematicians’ Awards Ambassador for 2018.

Bobby said: “Maths is in my blood and I’m thrilled to be able to inspire the next generation who might one day study at the University of Cambridge themselves – and perhaps appear on University Challenge.

“Maths is such an integral part of our everyday lives and having competitions like this really encourages children to see the importance of it and excitement that it can bring.”

Schools are now being encouraged to enter next year’s competition.

For more information, visit explorelearning.co.uk/youngmathematicians.