Exciting Maths Contests For Pupils | Boost Confidence

Pupils who want to practise.

A week of friendly competition gets even reluctant learners logging in, both in class and at home. They're playing 39 games, so it doesn't feel like homework, even when it is.

Every pupil can help their class win.

Each child gets questions at their own level, and points are awarded for correct answers. That means lower attainers count just as much as anyone else. Class scores are averaged, so a small class can beat a big one.

A clear picture of where to focus next.

Every answer feeds into your Teacher Fluency Report. You finish contest week knowing your class's strengths and gaps, with no extra marking.

Success worth celebrating.

Certificates, trophies, participation prizes and Sumdog coins give you a ready-made assembly moment. Pupils who don't usually shine in maths get to see themselves as mathematicians.

England

Regional contests, Monday 19th - Friday 23rd October

Scotland

Maths Week Scotland, Monday 21st - Friday 25th September

Australia

Regional contests, Monday 7th- Friday 11th September

New Zealand

Regional contests, Monday 7th - Friday 11th September

“Sumdog is amazing! All the pupils love playing the interactive games and even more so when they can compete against each other!”

Lynne McLelland, Teacher

Airdrie Academy

FAQs

We're here to help! If you can't find the answer you're looking for, check out our Contests Support Centre or get in touch with our friendly Support team.

If you're new to Sumdog, you will need to get in touch with our team who can help set your class up to try it through the next upcoming contest.

If you have an existing Sumdog subscription, you can enter by logging into your account and going to the contests page.

Sumdog is aimed at children aged 5-14. The questions posed during the contest follow Sumdog's Fluency curriculum, targeting core numeracy practice and consolidation.

Prior to the start of the contest, we would recommend that you have your pupils log in to Sumdog so they can complete their diagnostic test. This places them at their unique ability level.

The questions asked during the Sumdog contest will be based on their diagnostic test score.

To make our contest fair, there is a minimum of 5 pupils per class. The maximum class size is 35.

We do not have a time limit for our contests. The contests run from Monday to Friday. Pupils can log in any time during the contest period to answer questions.

We know that not all pupils have access to devices outside of school so, to make the contest fair, we do have a 700 question limit. This means that once a pupil has answered 700 questions in the contest, any questions after that will not count towards their contest score.

On the contest task, pupils will be able to see a 'Questions remaining' box, showing them how many questions they have left.

In January 2026, we introduced a new contest format. Following lots of feedback from our teachers, Sumdog maths contests now start on Monday at 8am (local time) and end on Friday at 12pm (local time).

During the contest period, pupils can log in at any time to answer the questions, either in school or at home.

The individual pupil scores are calculated based on correct answers. Each correct answer will equal 1 contest point.

Class scored are calculated on a class average. This is done to make it fair for both larger and smaller classes.

Scores on the leaderboards are not final until after the contest ends.

Check out the prizes that are available to win here.

Maths contests that get every pupil practising

Why enter a Sumdog contest?