Heathryburn pupils show they have heads for sums with impressive Maths contest win

25 April 2018

A P5 class at Heathryburn School have today (Wednesday 25 April) emerged as top dogs in a hugely popular, citywide mathematics competition.

Primary 5 C won the 2018 Sumdog maths competition for Aberdeen, beating off competition from a further 174 classes who also took part. The online competition came up with some impressive figures with 2659 pupils taking part and answering 795,906 maths questions correctly.

The budding Heathryburn mathematicians came up with 769 correct answers during the competition which ran from 9 to 15 March. This was 28 more than their nearest rivals and 30 more than last year’s winners.

Councillor John Wheeler, Education Operational Delivery Convener, said: “Fittingly, in a mathematics competition, it’s the numbers that show just how impressive the class’s achievement is.

“But quite apart from their obvious numerical talents, the pupils have demonstrated self-motivation, hard work and team effort and it’s important we recognise those qualities too.”

Sumdog is an Edinburgh-based company with an online maths game that is now used in more than 70% of Scottish schools. Sumdog’s mission is to help to close the poverty-related attainment gap.

Following two successful nationwide contests in 2017, Sumdog ran several local school competitions throughout Scotland in March 2018, including the one in Aberdeen.

Sumdog CEO Andrew Hall said: “We’re delighted to have had so many schools from across Aberdeen compete in the contest. On behalf of everyone at Sumdog, I’d like to express my huge congratulations to all Primary 5C pupils at Heathryburn Primary School on becoming the Aberdeen Maths Contest champions.

“Digital technology is becoming an increasingly important and powerful tool for teachers and pupils in the classroom. Used properly, we believe it can make a real and meaningful contribution towards encouraging learning and improving attainment.

“We’re very grateful to all schools who took part for their efforts and for making the contest such a great success. I would also like to thank Councillor John Wheeler from Aberdeen City Council for taking the time to visit Heathryburn Primary to present the trophy.”