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Student tops math contest for second year in a row By Dominik Kurek OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF 9 · Friday, June 18, 2010 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com Grade 4 student Morgan Wolfe has few words, but if you ask him about his achievements, he'll tell you: "I'm proud." The student at Oakville's Fern Hill School recently tied for first place with 10 other students in a national math contest in his grade group, a repeat from last year when he did the same in Grade 3. The youngster does not know where his math prowess comes from, but admitted it might be a combination of hard work and natural gifts. "I think the math program at Fern Hill is very individualized," said Wolfe's teacher Amanda Bragg of what might be the reason Wolfe did so well. "We let the students move ahead. We don't want to hold any of the students up." Wolfe finished with a perfect score in the Grade 4 Byron-Germain math contest, which tied him for first with 10 other students his age. More than 9,000 entries were submitted to the Mathematics Contest Centre in Québec by Grade 4 students across Canada. He also recorded a perfect score the year before. Wolfe, however, is not the only achiever at his school. His Grade 4 team came in second place nationwide. The other two members are Adonis Ng and Karrie Chou. Fern Hill placed on the honour roll in all contests from Grades 3 to 8 and ranked fourth in the Grade 3 Thales contest. "These students are highly motivated and they enjoy the challenge of learning new material and finding solutions in innovative ways," said Fern Hill mathematics teacher Lyn Foo, in a press release. "Many of our students are working at least one year ahead of their current grade level." Bragg said Wolfe is doing math closer to two grades above his age right now. "The Grade 4s at the school do math that is closer to Grade 5 and Morgan is capable of doing math well above that," she said. Wolfe tied for first place, also with a perfect score, last year in the Grade 3 Thales contest. Wolfe said he would like to continue doing well in the national math contest, but he has other favourite subjects besides math, including physical education and English class. Though he is still quite young and has a long time to think about it, he said he'd like to be a rocket scientist for NASA or a physicist. NIKKI WESLEY / OAKVILLE BEAVER PERFECTION: Fern Hill's Morgan Wolfe placed first out of 9,346 students at a national mathematics contest in his grade level. He got a perfect score to tie with 10 other students in his grade level. In 2009, Morgan placed first out of 4,583 students in the Grade 3 contest -- again achieving a perfect score. Halton student literacy results are above provincial average Reading and writing is definitely not a problem among the Halton District School Board students. The school board recently released the results of the literacy tests its Grade 10 students took. Ninety per cent of the local students passed the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test on their first try, compared to the provincial average of 84 per cent. Superintendent of School Programs Jeff Blackwell feels strongly that his school board's students are being well prepared for the literacy test. "HDSB schools have continued to focus on helping all of our students successfully demonstrate their literacy skills," he said. "Not only do we have one of the highest success rates in the province, we also have one of the highest participation rates. Every year for the past five years, more students have passed the test than the year before." Students who fail the test are able to take it again. A student must pass the test in order to graduate. Individual high school results in Oakville are: Oakville Trafalgar with 97 per cent, Iroquois Ride with 95 per cent, Abbey Park with 93 per cent, T. 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