Tonbridge boys put in exceptional performances in a recent national competition testing students’ mathematical ability. In the British Maths Olympiad Round 1, seven Tonbridgians were awarded distinctions for being ranked in the top 25 per cent of all competitors – Ben Gardner, Hayden Lam, Victor Lin, Isaac King, Kevin Lee, Godwyn Lai and Sherman Yip.
Four of these boys also received medals for achieving a place in the national top 100. Sherman, one of just seven students in the entire country to gain full marks, received a gold medal; Godwyn earned a silver medal; and Isaac and Kevin were awarded bronze.
Seven distinctions equals the school’s best performance in the British Maths Olympiad, a record set just last year, and four ‘top 100’ prizes is the school’s best showing to date.
A number of other Tonbridge boys earned the right to take part in the competition by being placed in the top 1,000 across the country in an earlier contest, the Senior Maths Challenge.
Following the British Maths Olympiad Round 1, both Isaac and Sherman were invited to the UKMT [UK Mathematics Trust] New Year Training Camp in Hungary. Following another outstanding performance in this event, Sherman has been invited to represent the UK as one of a team of six at the Romanian Mathematical Masters.
Isaac also performed well and is being trained for possible future opportunities.
In being selected for the Romanian Mathematical Masters, Sherman becomes the first Tonbridgian to represent the UK in a Maths competition.
In more good news for the public boys school, Tonbridge students have also enjoyed a record-breaking year of fundraising.
The school’s community of boys, staff and parents raised more than £113,000 for charity during the academic year of 2018-19. This total, which sets a Tonbridge record for funds raised in a single year, has been donated to more than 20 local, national and international charities.
The main school fundraiser for the year raised enough to build and equip a Child Development Centre for the poorest children in Sri Lanka, and each of the school’s main annual events broke previous record totals.
Some events, such as Pink Day, which raised more than £3,000 for Breast Cancer Now, involved the whole school. Boys dressed in pink outfits and the school was adorned in pink bows and ribbons to express solidarity with all of those affected by cancer. Collections taken after concerts, plays or in chapel services supported a range of charities, including Chasing Connor’s Cure, Ellenor, Movember, Cardiac Risk in the Young and The Royal British Legion.
Sales of produce, such as honey from the school’s bees or apple juice produced from the orchard, supported Farm Africa, and a staff quiz night raised funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust.
Many boys and staff also undertook their own personal challenges, such as log runs or marathons, raising funds for both local and international charities.
A particularly impressive effort came from first-year students who braved the elements to sleep rough in the Quad for a night in early April, raising £16,726.40 for Kent-based Porchlight.
The school’s donations to Porchlight, a charity which helps homeless and vulnerable young people across Kent and the South East, amount to more than £75,000 over the past five years.
The school’s biggest success of the year was in raising more than £69,000 for Child Action Lanka [CAL], a charity which works with street children in Sri Lanka. In total, more than £82,000 has now been donated to build and equip a new Child Development Centre in Batticaloa, on the east coast of Sri Lanka.
