Pupils at Luton primary school win second place in national maths competition

Pupils at Luton’s Sacred Heart Primary School are celebrating after finishing in second place in the national 10ticks Mental Maths competition.

They answered more than 125,000 questions correctly - winning a £300 prize for the school.

Head teacher Joan Cullen, said: “We are delighted to have achieved second place in the 10ticks November Challenge. The children love the program and are always keen to log on at school and at home. 10ticks helps to develop mental arithmetic skills and instant recall, preparing children for the Year 4 Multiplication Check and also SATs but, more importantly, giving them skills for everyday life.

"Teachers can view reports on each child with clear guidance on areas for development. They can share these with parents, who also like it when 10ticks is set as homework as the children are keen to complete the activities and can do so independently.”

Pupils agreed they loved taking part in the challenge. One said: “I play 10ticks at home as well as in school and it is really good at helping me learn maths. I love trying to Beat the Clock and Perfect Ten but my favourite is playing worldwide because it is exciting to play against children from other countries.”

Another added: “In school we always start with a timed test and I like trying to improve my score. We can play children worldwide. It is great fun.Our school gets a certificate if we are number one in the World which happens nearly every month.”

The competition, sponsored by Liontrust, was held over a two-week period.