MATHEMATICAL masterminds from St Mark’s Primary School have been named runners up in a national competition.

Year 6 pupils Finley Anderson, William Gardner, Jessica Richards and Eva Hurst fought off tough competition from 650 teams from across the country to reach the grand final of the National Young Mathematicians Awards.

The contest was held at Cambridge University last Wednesday and the Salisbury youngsters were presented with their prizes by maths expert and star of Countdown, Rachel Riley.

The annual competition, organised by tuition company Explore Learning, has been running for the past six weeks with teams from primary schools across the country battling it out to reach the final where they had to work as a team to solve a challenge maths problem in a set time.

St Mark’s teacher Fina Reidy said: “We’re so pleased for our pupils to have got this far. They put a lot of work in and they should be very proud of themselves.

"They all tried so hard and it’s a fantastic achievement to return to school having participated in such an event. They really are the top mathematicians in the country. I couldn’t be happier and we’re all very, very proud.”