FOUR pupils from Durham School calculated a formula for success– beating 1,300 schools to come out top of the class in a prestigious national maths competition.

The team travelled to London earlier this month to take part in the UKMT Team Mathematics Competition, National Finals, at Westminster School.

Having won the northern final in November without dropping a mark, Jeff Zhang, 18, Cindy Shang, 17, Linda Lin and Maggie Qian, both 16, competed in five tough rounds against 86 other UK school teams.

After the first three rounds, Durham School were in the top ten and went on to compete in the final ‘team relay’ which would decide the eventual winners.

Durham School and Westminster School ended on equal points and were each awarded the national trophy for joint first place.

Head of mathematics Tim Middleton said: “I am exceptionally proud of my amazing team. They really rose to the challenge on the day and were almost unstoppable in their desire to do well. This is a real celebration of not only their ability, but of all their hard work leading up to this competition.”

All four plan to further their studies in maths and economics.

Jeff hopes to attend University College London to study economics and mathematics, Linda has been offered a place at Cambridge to read economics; Cindy hopes to read maths at Cambridge; and Maggie is continuing with her studies in maths and further maths at A-level.