A PUPIL from Vale of Evesham School has beaten thousands of entrants from around the world to win an international maths competition.
Jerion Jorel Castro, aged 12, was crowned Level 7 winner of the British Youth International College (BYITC) International Maths Olympiad in recognition of Maths Week Scotland.
He was one of 11 young people from around the globe to be awarded a top spot in the tournament organised by the Glasgow-based online tuition company.
The week-long free-to-enter challenge, aimed at pupils ranging from four to 14, is based on BYITC’s Abacus Maths programme, which requires 50 questions to be answered within one hour.
Jerion’s mum, Cecile Castro, said: “The mentors at BYITC understand every child’s unique pace.
“Their patient teaching style has helped my son move from fearing maths to excelling in it. We’re truly grateful.”
Youngsters log into BYITC’s Zoom platform and take level-appropriate exams in front of invigilators using concepts like the Abacus, finger and mental maths theory.
The top performers across each of the 11 levels of the BYITC supermaths training programme were awarded certificates and prizes for their impressive arithmetic skills.
BYITC’s Founder, Dr Rashmi Mantri, said: “Congratulations to each of the winners. Every child who took part deserves enormous credit, as we can tell they gave it their best shot and worked very hard.
“The success of our Olympiads and others, such as the Scottish Maths Challenge, reflects its educational value, while the sheer scale of entries from across the globe is very satisfying and gives us confidence that there is a huge hunger for learning more about, and getting lots of fun from playing with numbers.
She explained that young people are naturally competitive and derive lots of fun from playing and experimenting with numbers.
“Competitions like this prepare them for higher levels of assessments and exams as they go through their educational journey, as they work on time management and enhance their problem-solving skills.
“As we know from research, such high-level game playing promotes healthy competition, significantly boosts logical thinking skills, an excellent preparation for a future that is going to be dominated by AI,” she added.
