Young number crunchers from Isleworth just missed out on being crowned national maths champions.

The team from Ashton House Primary School, in Eversley Crescent, was named runners up in the National Young Mathematicians' Award.

Cleva Cullen, Maya Rawat, Aaron Gangarh and Humza Qadir, all 10, had fought off competition from 1,300 teams across the UK to reach the grand final of the competition.

They travelled to Cambridge University on December 9, where they went head to head with other whizzkids to solve a fiendishly difficult maths puzzle.

They were presented with their runners-up trophy by celebrated statistician Sir David Spiegelhalter and Carey Ann Dodah, head of curriculum at tuition provider Explore Learning, which runs the competition.

This was the second year running a team from the private school had reached the final of the contest, now in its fifth year.

Vivienne Frampton, the school's maths coordinator, said: "We have always prided ourselves on both the ability and attitude of our pupils who strive to use their skills to problem solve. To have gained such recognition is both deserved and rewarding for the dedicated staff and pupils of Ashton House."