Meet the kids who have won a unique maths challenge

The trio of 10-year-olds beat thousands of students in this year's National Maths Olympiad competition, held by The British Youth International College (BYITC).

St Mary’s Primary Zilkefal Khan, along with Aaron Nanda, of Mearns Primary and Ojas Maniyar who attends St Patrick’s, all scooped awards.

Ojas Maniyar, who attends St Patrick’s Primary, won the Mental Theory (Image: Sourced)

The challenge is based on the school’s pioneering Abacus Maths instruction.

There were 50 questions in total, and results were based on accuracy and time.

The questions were set keeping in mind the complexities and advanced levels of each category.

Students used concepts like finger, abacus, and mental theory.

The top performers across each of 10 levels of BYITC Supermaths training were awarded certificates and prizes for their impressive arithmetic skills.

Zilkefal Khan, who attends St Mary’s Primary School, won the Level 9/6A; (Image: Sourced)

Aaron Nanda, who attends Mearns Primary School, won the Level 9/6A; (Image: Sourced)

Dr Rashmi Mantri, The British Youth International College, said: “The National Abacus Maths Challenge continues to be a success and the students love to compete in it each year.

"It was created to identify, assess and celebrate students who show extraordinary Abacus Maths skills.

“Everyone, and especially children, learns best when their imagination, as well as their logical thinking skills are fully engaged on a problem or challenge.

Add to that a fun element of competition and you begin to see youngsters making great progress in their performances.

“A principal aim of BYITC is to uncover the huge asset of untutored talent and ability which we know exists in every community and to channel it towards extraordinary performance in numeracy.

"As such, the BYITC Abacus Maths Challenge is a real game changer.”

A core component of the BYITC’s approach to Maths teaching, Abacus Maths training is introduced to students through the Supermaths Abacus programme.

Kids are taught to calculate sums by visualising an Abacus board and use their fingers to manipulate imaginary beads.

This not only allows them to do rapid mental arithmetic, but also stimulates cognitive development, improves memory and focus, and develops problem-solving skills.

Glasgow-based BYITC is now the UK’s largest provider of Abacus Maths classes and creator of the world’s first digital Abacus maths learning App.

Rashmi added: “By taking part in the National Maths Challenge, we hope our Supermaths students will further develop their interest in maths and enthusiasm for number crunching.

The challenge not only improves their arithmetic skills, speed and accuracy, but also boosts their confidence.”