MATHEMATICAL masterminds of the future were put their through their paces in the regional semi-finals of a national competition to find Britain’s best brain.

The four top mathematicians from Tregoze Primary School, Ferndale Community Primary School and Goddard Primary School took part in the Swindon semi-finals of the competition at Explore Learning yesterday.

They spent two hours trying their hand at a number of maths and problem-solving activities.

The smartest school will find out if they have won the coveted crown next week after all the results have been collated and analysed.

After the winning school is announced, Explore Learning, which provides maths and English tuition for five- to 14-year-olds, will send the scores to their head office, and the five best teams from across the country will then go head-to-head in a grand final, at the University of Cambridge.

Lauren Webb, assistant director at Explore Learning in Swindon, said: “All the children did exceptionally well and it was great to welcome them here to Explore Learning. They all worked really hard.

“Swindon have never been to the grand final so fingers crossed that we will this year.

“The tests were all problem solving and maths, which is particularly important since they have changed the curriculum to focus more on problem solving and there may in the future be a problem solving paper in Year 6 SATs.”

The children used coloured dice before thinking about what they could see and the patterns they could draw to create a general formula.

Lia Haskett, curriculum manager at Explore Learning, said: “The teams who have made it through to this year’s semi-finals have done a fantastic job and should be very proud.

“They would have beaten other teams in their regions and now it’s crunch time as they battle it out for a place in the grand final at the University of Cambridge.”

To find out more about Explore Learning, visit www.explorelearning.co.uk or call 01793 614641.