Maths wizards

Two of Bahrain’s brightest budding mathematicians have walked away with the top spots in a national study.

St Christopher’s School pupil Tom Fellows, 13, received a special prize for gaining the highest mark in Maths across the country during the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), which is an international assessment of the mathematics and science knowledge.

Meanwhile, British School of Bahrain (BSB) student, Rida Souhaib, 16, was awarded first place in Maths and Science for the Grade 8 TIMSS.

Tom, from Saar, whose parents are both teachers at St Christopher’s School, said: “My favourite subject at school is definitely PE. I’m not sure I love Maths! It’s just always been a subject I’ve enjoyed and been quite good at, even when I was really young. I’ve been lucky to have great teachers at St Chris who have always made Maths fun.
 
“My teacher at the moment is Mr Craig who can make even the hardest lessons enjoyable. I would advise anyone who finds Maths difficult to try and practice things they find tricky. It helps if you’ve got a good memory so you can remember the rules and formulas but the more you practice the more you will remember.

“My mum says that I’ve got my Maths skills from her, but I’m not sure about that!”

Dad Ian Fellows, head of infants section, said he thought his son’s love of football statistics also helped with his Maths as he was always working out how many ‘assists’ and goals his favourite players had conjured up every weekend.

St Chris Principal Ed Goodwin was thrilled that the school was honoured as a consistently top-scoring school in Bahrain, and three of its students were personally invited to celebrate their individual achievements – Tom, Lian Pyers and Anirud Gupta.

Tom received a special prize for gaining the highest mark in Mathematics across the country.

He said: “I was really surprised to win the TIMSS prize and was very pleased to get a Galaxy Tab lll. It feels good to be the winner but I didn’t expect to win. I’m also really pleased that Bahrain came out as the top Gulf country.

“When I leave St Chris I want to go to university in England, if my plan to become a professional footballer and play for Arsenal doesn’t work out!”

The results of the TIMSS 2011 were officially celebrated in a ceremony hosted by the Ministry of Education at Isa Town. St Christopher’s were top in Year 4 Maths and BSB were top in Year 4 Science.

It seems like a head for numbers is in the genes as Rida’s father, Sohaib, is an Islamic finance consultant/ advisor.

Rida, from Seef, said: “I love the formulaic nature of Maths, every problem has a solution if you know how to approach it.”

In fact, solving problems is something dear to Rida’s heart as she hopes to carve out a career as a psychologist/ counsellor.

She said: “I’m studying for a career as a psychologist/ counsellor because I want to help people be happy. In a world increasingly full of unhappy people, I feel I can help.”

The BSB said in a statement: “The British School of Bahrain had the great honour of receiving an award from the Ministry of Education for being the best school overall in the TIMSS 2011 international assessments. In the Gulf, Bahrain came out first, and within Bahrain, the British School of Bahrain came top overall.”