St Michael’s Maths Challenge: Staff and students at a Lichfield school were counting on each other when they took part in an interschool challenge for Maths Week England.
St Michael’s C of E Primary School, which is part of the respected Arthur Terry Learning Partnership (ATLP), saw students 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 Maths in later life.
And youngsters 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 ATLP schools in a live link-up, on Thursday November 16th.
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 around them – even the staff dressed as rock icons.
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.
St Michael’s Maths Challenge was supported by families
Families supported the event too – with Year 5 and 6 classes welcoming parents who spoke to them about using maths in their jobs, ranging from an Occupational Therapist to Diversity and Policy specialist.
Teacher Becky Lewis, the school’s Maths Lead, explained: “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 Years 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.”
Headteacher Helen Robertson said: “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.”