Cathcart pupil among SA’s brightest minds
CATHCART High School Grade 9 pupil Martin Rossouw was named the best performing pupil in quintile four schools for grades 8 and 9 in the country as he came top at the SA National Mathematics Olympiad (Samo).
Coming from a small town like Cathcart did not stop the 15-year-old from flying his school’s and the province’s flag high when he participated in the junior division of quintile four schools.
The Samo, which is organised by the South African Mathematics Foundation, is the biggest olympiad in the country, with almost 100 000 pupils participating in this year’s competition, according to its website.
Rossouw said maths was his favourite subject as he found it challenging.
“Although I am not yet entirely sure which career I might choose in the future, I am sure that it will involve mathematics,” he said.
Cathcart High School principal Noeleen Hart said Rossouw had made the school proud.
“He has been invited to the South African Mathematics Foundation award function at the Krystal Beach Hotel in Gordon’s Bay on September 23 to receive his award,” she said.
Rossouw’s maths teacher, Mary Brown, described the pupil as being “a naturally gifted mathematician”.
The junior division consists of separate papers for Grades 8 and 9 and the senior division has one paper for Grades 10 to 12.
Each paper consists of 20 questions with multiple-choice answers and pupils have one hour to complete the paper.
Each school is provided with the solutions and, for this initial round, the teachers mark the papers.
Learners who attain 50% or higher in the first round qualify for the second round, which was written in May.
There are separate papers for the juniors and seniors. This time the grades 8 and 9 pupils write the same paper and pupils have two hours to complete twenty questions.
The best 100 senior and junior pupils from the previous round qualify for the third round. — thembiles@dispatch.co.za