Sixty Year 7 pupils from the island's six secondary schools came together at King William's College for a morning of teamwork, problem-solving and mathematical thinking as part of the inaugural All-Island Maths Challenge.

Organised by KWC Head of Mathematics Anouk de Vos, the event aimed to encourage collaboration between pupils from different schools while developing their mathematical and communication skills through a series of engaging challenges.

Participants were split into 10 mixed-school teams, each made up of one pupil from every secondary school. The competition began with a problem-solving round featuring 30 mathematical questions of varying difficulty before teams tackled five increasingly demanding challenge rounds.

To progress, every question in each round had to be answered correctly, encouraging pupils to work together and support one another.

The morning concluded with an engineering challenge in which teams used 30 sheets of A3 paper and a roll of Sellotape to build the tallest free-standing tower possible.

To count, each structure also had to survive being carried to the measuring area without collapsing. The winning team comprised Sophie (SNHS), Rishawn (KWC), Jasper (QEII), Rollo (CRHS), Oshyn (RGS) and Douglas (BHS).

Runners-up were Cory (SNHS), Zack (KWC), Aidan (QEII), Ben (CRHS), Joseph (RGS) and William (BHS).

Both teams received prize packs of mathematical puzzles, games and fridge magnets, sponsored by PwC Isle of Man and presented by KWC Principal Damian Henderson.

After the competition, pupils enjoyed lunch together in Barrovian Hall before receiving goodie bags to take home.

Reflecting on the event, Anouk de Vos said: 'It was fantastic to see pupils from all six secondary schools working together with such enthusiasm. I wanted the focus to be collaboration rather than competition, and the event achieved exactly that.

'Mathematics is about far more than finding the correct answer. It develops communication, resilience, creativity and teamwork, and those qualities were evident throughout the morning. It was incredibly rewarding to see students who had never met before quickly become supportive teammates.'