A MERSEYSIDE maths teacher will stop perplexing his pupils this half term to be puzzled himself.

Dr Steve Barge is one of a team of four heading to Poland for the 19th World Puzzle Championships, taking place next week.

Dr Barge’s day job is head of maths at Merchant Taylors’ Girls’ School, but in his spare time, he gets his Oxford- educated head around some serious conundrums.

The 39-year-old said: “When I was a child I’d do word searches, logic puzzles and then moved onto more complex numerical puzzles. I like puzzles where you have to work out a strategy for solving them.”

Dr Barge, who is married to Kirsty and lives in Formby, uses puzzling in his lessons.

He said: “I encourage the girls to do logical puzzles because they promote problem solving, thinking two or three steps ahead and creating your own strategies.”

“By using them, students don’t even notice they are doing quite difficult maths in order to solve the problems.”

A man of Dr Barge’s ability is rarely troubled with the average newspaper Sudoku, although he admits the hardest ones can sometimes be a test for him. But, in Poland next week, some of the planet’s most prolific puzzlers will be getting together to contest the championship.

Dr Barge’s teammates include a puzzles setter, a Krypton Factor semi- finalist and a Sudoku expert.