Three secondary students at Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School joined students from more than 30 countries to compete in the 40th Australian Mathematics Competition (AMC).
Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School Year 8 student Claudia Waddingham, 12, was awarded top honours as a prize winner.
Prizes were presented to one in every 300 students within their region and year group.
Two high distinctions were also awarded to Year 11 student Jamie McGregor, 16, and 13-year-old Year 8 student Tom Coates.
The results placed them in the top three percent of their year groups.
Head of Mathematics at Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School Adrian Bandy said the results were well worth celebrating.
“As a prize winner, it recognises Claudia as one of the top students in her division across the state, which is an outstanding achievement. We have had prize winners before, but they are really hard to win in such a tough competition.”
“We place a strong emphasis on problem solving in our teaching, so the AMC presents our most capable students with an opportunity to be challenged in an international competition, and they always stack up extremely well.”
Waddingham said she was thrilled to be achieving results at such a high level.
Coates stated he enjoyed maths as it was challenging and involved a range of areas.
All three students said maths was vital to the curriculum.
“I reckon it’s very important – if you split your subjects into your humanities and your sciences then maths is the basis for all the sciences, physics is very much maths and for all of those subjects you need a knowledge of maths,” McGregor said.
The annual event began as the first Australia-wide mathematics competition for students in 1978.