Joining forces across the Under School and Westminster School, Batu, Feihong, Christos-Marios and Franklin combined their talents to win the UKMT Team Maths Challenge and become National Champions.
More than 500 schools took part in the 2026 UKMT Team Maths Challenge. Representing WUS were Batu and Feihong (Year 8), alongside former WUS pupils Christos-Marios and Franklin (fifth form), now pupils at Westminster School. Their journey to the national title began at the regional final held at Pimlico Academy in March, where they secured first place and progressed to the national final.
This year’s final was held at the Kimpton Clocktower Hotel in Manchester. In total, 64 teams attended – the winners of regional finals from across the UK, together with eight visiting teams from China.
The final consisted of five rounds: a poster round, a group round, the shuttle, the cross-number and a relay.
The subject of this year’s poster was Japanese sangaku and, although teams were allowed to make preparations in advance, teams were also given three sangaku problems to solve on the day which had to feature on the poster alongside pre-prepared content. The team solved all three problems and combined these with work completed the previous week to produce a visually and mathematically impressive design.
Having submitted their poster, the team moved on to the group round where they worked together to solve a sequence of problems. By efficiently solving and thoroughly checking their solutions, they achieved full marks in this round – a strong start.
In the shuttle round, the team divided into two pairs. When one pair solved a question, they passed their answer to the other pair who used it as an input to their question. This creates the risk of one error leading to another. This round also provides the opportunity to earn time bonuses for quick progress. The team scored full marks in this round, including winning every time bonus.
The cross-number round was also a success. The team skilfully unravelled the patchwork of clues to complete the grid, earning yet another full score.
The concluding relay round was a scene of frenetic activity, with hundreds of young mathematicians racing back and forth to collect and solve problems. The WUS team remained composed and made the sensible judgement to use the full allocation of time to check their answers carefully. Just one error in the relay left them in a strong position overall.
After a nervous wait while the scores were compiled, WUS were announced as National Champions. A separate award was made for the best posters, where WUS placed second.
The result capped an impressive performance across all five rounds, with the team achieving full marks in the group, shuttle and cross-number rounds.
