Staff and students at a Lichfield school were counting on each other when they took part in a challenge for Maths Week England.
St Michael’s C of E Primary School saw youngsters across its year groups take part in a variety of activities, all designed to foster and promote a love of maths, as well as helping children to understand the importance of the subject in later life.
Students in Years 3 and 4 were hoping to prove they could be ‘top of the rocks’ by competing in a music-themed times tables competition, taking on students from 13 other Arthur Terry Learning Partnership schools in a live link-up.
Dressed as their favourite rockstars, the students used their iPads to battle it out with the other schools as pop music filled the school hall.
Elsewhere in the school, the fancy dress theme continued, with youngsters in reception donning explorers’ clothes, Years 1 and 2 dressing as number blocks, and Years 5 and 6 taking inspiration from what they want to be when they grow up.
Families supported the event too with Year 5 and 6 classes welcoming parents who spoke to them about using maths in their jobs.
Teacher Becky Lewis, the school’s maths lead, said:
“Each class asked our visitors a set of questions to identify their jobs, and the visitors then gave a short talk about how they use maths in their jobs, followed by some more pupil questions.
“They were really interested to hear that a lot of the skills we start to learn in Year 5 and 6, including percentages, averages and angles, are skills used in many jobs.
“The children really enjoyed it, and it made them think about maths in a different way.”
Becky Lewis
Headteacher Helen Robertson added:
“The maths day was an overwhelming success; there was a palpable buzz around school of excitement for all things maths.
“The staff really pulled out the stops to make it a memorable event.
“We are very grateful for all the support we had from the school community and our parents, from sorting out fantastic costumes for their children to coming into school to speak about their jobs.”
Helen Robertson