NUMBER crunchers from Kingsdown School have reached the national finals of a new maths competition.

Four pupils, Andrea Budagowski, 14, Chris Elliott, 14, Philip Hazelton, 13, and Nick Honeyman-Brown, 13, will fly up to Glasgow on July 29 to take on 72 teams from around Britain.

The competition, called Enterprising Maths, will feature five problem-solving rounds in the day-long final and youngsters will compete for a trophy presented by the Princess Royal.

Kingsdown's team qualified for the final after coming second in their regional heat in Oxford, and Swindon firms Arkells and Tyco have both helped with travel expenses.

Chris Elliott, 14, from Stratton St Margaret, said: "We were really surprised to get into the final because it seemed like a lot of the other teams were doing much better than us. But when the scores came out we had consistently done fairly well all day.

"I'm excited, but also quite nervous. I enjoy maths especially the problem solving that we did in the competition."