A Newcastle East Public School student has taken out top honours in a regional NSW mathematics competition scoring a perfect 100 per cent.
Year 6 student Charlie Drew was the sole first place winner in this year’s Newcastle Permanent Primary School Mathematics Competition.
Charlie was one of 10,000 Year 5 and 6 students from 250 Hunter, Central Coast, Mid North Coast, North Coast, Northern Rivers, Central West, and New England North West primary schools who sat the exam.
Coming equal third out of all Year 5 students was Henry Riddell from Newcastle Grammar and Amelia McCallum from Jewells Primary School.
Newcastle Permanent’s chief product officer James Cudmore presented Charlie, Henry and Amelia with their awards and said it was great to meet the students and hear their aspirations for the future.
“There was a lot of maths and science mentioned, which is great to see because we know that’s important for the future,” Cudmore said.
“Hearing those aspirations and interest in mathematics is why Newcastle Permanent runs the competition.”
Three of the top seven students in the whole competition hailed from the Hunter, and 19 Hunter students in total received awards.
Held online this year due to COVID-19, the students were tested on their numeracy and problem-solving skills without help from calculators, rulers or mathematical instruments.
First place received a complimentary $250 Newcastle Permanent account, second place winners $150, third place $100, and district award winners received $50.
Newcastle Permanent CEO Bernadette Inglis congratulated all entrants for challenging themselves and embracing the importance of mathematics.
“Numeracy skills are so important well beyond school. In fact, they’re life skills,” Inglis said.
“Numeracy plays a part in getting a job, in managing your household budget and in buying your first home, not to mention the daily problems we solve using maths.
“Seeing our Hunter-based students perform at such a high level demonstrates the high number of talented young people we have within our younger generations.”
She said the Newcastle Permanent Primary School Mathematics Competition has been running for more than 40 years and will continue well into the future.
Hunter region Year 6 District Award winners
- Kayla Peisto, Wirreanda Public School Medowie
- Elvis Blyth New Lambton Public School
- Shankhin Kesarwani New Lambton Public School
- Dale Li St Catherine’s College, Singleton
- Ben McClintock Hunter Valley Grammar School, Ashtonfield
- Ryan Sharma Macquarie College, Wallsend
- Cody Pedonese Jewells Primary School
Hunter region Year 5 District Award winners
- Joshua Boyn The Junction Public School
- Dana Kidd Tighes Hill Public School
- Leonardo Legovich Maryland Public School
- Bodie Zwart Tighes Hill Public School
- Ethan Peisto Wirreanda Public School Medowie
- Layla Ong St Mary’s Primary School, Warners Bay
- Olivia Martin Floraville Public School
- Carter Michael McDonald Gillieston Public School
- Pin-Ling Wei Singleton Public School
Are you smarter than a primary school kid? Check your knowledge against questions from this year’s exam.
Remember, no calculators, rulers or other instruments!
Q. One ice cream costs $4.50. How much for 7 ice-creams?
(A) $32.50 (B) $31.50 (C) $29.05 (D) $28.00
Q. After spending 0.6 of her money, Melissa has $20 left. How much has she spent?
(A) $8 (B) $12 (C) $30 (D) $50
Q. A triangle has one angle of 60°. We know that one of the other angles is 4 times the size of the third angle. The triangle is:
(A) obtuse-angled (B) equilateral (C) isosceles (D) right-angled
Comment your answers down below, and we will let you know if you’re correct!