BRIGHT sparks from Queen Elizabeth’s School, Crediton, have been celebrating after finishing second in the national final of the Senior Maths Team Challenge, held in London.

The challenge is the premier competition in the country for the nation’s mathematical sixth formers, and the Queen Elizabeth’s team – comprising of Nathanael Alcock, Sean Hao, Ella Kershaw and Troy Sharples – performed admirably to take the runnerup spot.

The competition consisted of two separate challenges. The first was a poster design round and the second was a series of mini-tasks.

Queen Elizabeth’s performed fantastically well, finishing second overall to Leeds Grammar School. The school praised the “ outstanding achievement that was a credit to their preparation, intelligence and ability to rise to the challenge”.

There were 60 finalists in all from the different regions of the UK including many infamous schools such as Eton, Harrow, Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Manchester Grammar and Rugby to name a few.

Maths teacher John Wright said: “Congratulations must go to the QE team. Second is a fantastic achievement.

“Given all secondary schools in the country enter the tournament, it was a major achievement just to reach the final as one of only two teams from Devon.

“The team showed fantastic initiative, understanding and teamwork on an intensive and rewarding day.”