His teacher Penny McGann at Our Lady of Victories Shortland already calls her year five student the human calculator, mathematical dictionary and mathemagician. “I love maths, it’s a party trick to show my friends - I can multiply a double digit number with another double digit number in my head.”

Joseph, 10, and Gosford Public student Eric Hwang, 11, were named on Wednesday the joint Hunter region winners of the competition’s year five category.

St Kevin’s Cardiff student Grady William Platt was second and Newcastle Grammar’s Nidhish Kannan and St Joseph’s Merewether’s Vinushi Ashanya Weerasinghe tied for third place.

Narara Public’s Abigail Kogan was the Hunter region’s year six winner. Dudley’s Liam Lieschke and Gosford’s Joowon Maeng tied for second place, while Bel Air’s Lily-Rose Dunbar was third.

“I was really surprised –  I felt I did pretty well but did not expect to come first,” Joseph said. Eric said he felt “pretty good”, while Nidhish said he “knew I worked hard for the exam and studied”. 

They sat the 35-question paper in August along with almost 19,000 students from 323 primary schools across the Hunter and five surrounding regions. Calculators, rulers and geometrical instruments were not allowed.

Joseph is considering a career in architecture, while Eric is looking at becoming a detective and Nidhish is aiming towards neurosurgery.