Six-year-old Glenmore Park student Charles Fawcett has topped the national rankings in Kumon Mathematics, achieving first place nationally in the Australia wide program. 

Charles, who currently attends Kumon at South Penrith under the tutorage of Mary Cassasco and her team twice a week, had previously ranked second on three occasions, despite placing first in New South Wales. 

“Charles dreams of representing Australia in the International Mathematics Olympiad. He enjoys looking for odd patterns in maths and proposing conjectures/ He’s excited about furthering his studies and learning from and about top mathematicians” said Matt Fawcett, Charles’s father. 

The talented student became a member of Mensa at just 4 years of age, after being assessed professionally for cognitive ability.  

When he’s not studying mathematics, Charles loves drawing, playing piano, watching game shows and cooking shows and of course, playing in the park. His favourite subjects apart from mathematics are reading, science, art and Chinese. 

If you have a child who is a budding mathematician with an interest in maths and want to take that next step, Matt has this advice, “Give them support and encouragement. If the child shows a level of giftedness, find a way of extending and challenging them. We have been lucky with Charles because Mary Carrasco and her team at South Penrith have been amazingly patient with him. He is still a 6-year-old, but he started just after his 4th birthday. Mary assessed him at the age of 3 years and 10 months and was greatly impressed with his ability even then”. 

The Glenmore Gazette wishes Charles all the best in his mathematics endeavours and his dream of one day representing Australia.