BUDDING mathematicians at Kings' School, Winchester, have raised around £1,905 for charity by taking part in a number-crunching challenge.

All the year seven pupils took part in the project, which involved them trying to improve their scores on mental arithmetic and their knowledge about a famous mathematician.

They played several maths games, including one where they chose a famous historic mathematician and completed a multiple choice quiz about them.

They then had two weeks to brush up on their skills at home in order to get a better score the second time.

The youngsters met to decide which charities should benefit from their challenge. They chose to support the Joe Glover Children's Cancer Charity, based in Colden Common, Dogs for the Disabled, which has supplied a dog for one of the school's physically disabled pupils, and The Stroke Association, which has supported the father of one of the school's pupils.

Frances Hughes, who organised the challenge, said: "Pupils have been very keen to collect money for their chosen charities and their mathematics skills have improved along the way. They have also been inspired by some of the fascinating facts about great mathematicians from the past."

On Monday (January 21) the school held a special assembly to celebrate the achievement.

* In December, 10 girls from year 11 at Kings' attended a GCSE maths revision day at Portsmouth University. The day was organised by the Aim Higher project and involved maths revision as well as information on further and higher education.