These friendly, online, inter-school competitions give teams of Year 3, 4 and 5 children the opportunity to apply their mathematics knowledge and teamwork skills to solve problems and answer challenging questions, putting their reasoning skills to the test.

Teams from any school, within Hertfordshire, across the UK and overseas, are warmly welcomed to take part as all heats and finals will be held remotely.

The teams of four pupils will be able to join the competitions from their own classrooms or school. Schools can enter more than 1 team if they wish to.

Each team member will receive a certificate for taking part and the winners will receive the trophy, engraved with their school’s name, to display proudly in school until the next year’s Mathematics Challenge takes place.

There are free samples to download of maths challenge questions, which can be used as practice materials, with answers on each event page.

We also run the HFL Education Annual Year 7 and Year 8 Mathematics Challenges for secondary students.

The maths challenges for 2025/26 are now open for booking! You can book you place using these links:

Year 5 Maths Challenge – Feb/March 2026
Heats: Take place on 26/02/26 and 3/3/26. Each date has 2 sessions to choose from: 1:30-2:30pm or 3:30-4:30pm
Final: 24/03/26, 1:30-3:10pm, by invite.

Year 4 Maths Challenge – April/May 2026
Heats: Take place on 23/04/26 or 28/04/26. Each date has 2 sessions to choose from: 1:30-2:30pm or 3:30-4:30pm
Final: 19/05/26, 1:30-3:10pm, by invite.

Year 3 Maths Challenge – June 2026
Heats: Take place on 04/06/26 or 09/06/26. Each date has 2 sessions to choose from: 1:30-2:30pm or 3:30-4:30pm
Final: 30/06/26, 1:30-3:10pm, by invite.