Multiply is a government funded programme to help adults improve their numeracy skills. This includes family numeracy programmes and courses for parents wanting to increase their skills in order to help their children. Over the past year, organisations in Scotland have used their Multiply funding to train their practitioners in the Maths on Toast Approach. We offer a Community Champion Programme, providing in-depth training and monthly resources and guidance to empower and enable practitioners to run Maths on Toast sessions in their own settings. The resource programme is designed to inspire work with all families, including those who may be apprehensive or reluctant to engage with maths.
In October 2022 we rolled out our Community Champion Programme with the learning team from Dumfries and Galloway Council and with practitioners from North Lanarkshire Council and the Aberdeen Science Centre through funding sourced by Learning Link Scotland. The feedback was very positive with practitioners commenting:
“Today has transformed the way I think and feel about maths. Maths can be fun and interactive; I actually quite like maths; maths can be facilitated like any other subject”
“I have been to many training sessions over the years and this one was truly inspiring. Thankyou.”
Over the past 5 months our Community Champions have shared their families’ creative maths journeys with us, celebrating their positive learning experiences and sharing how themselves – as practitioners – have grown in confidence when using Maths on Toast’s fun resources to explore maths.
Images with permission from Dumfries and Galloway Council
The success of the programme led to a further 24 practitioners from North Lanarkshire Council receiving training in March 2023. Following the full day’s training they tweeted
‘We enjoyed training from Maths on Toast today. We learned how to feel positive about maths and how to make it fun for families and learners that we work with. We had a hands-on creative experience of maths and we can’t wait to use it with our learners’
Images with permission from North Lanarkshire Council
The newly trained Community Champions will receive their first set of monthly resources for delivery in April which includes menus with instructions, a delivery plan, templates/activity sheets and evaluation/feedback forms. They will also have the opportunity to take part in a reflective practice session to celebrate successes, discuss any challenges and put forward areas for improvement.
Here at Maths on Toast, we are delighted that through our Community Champions, so many more families will have the opportunity to make positive maths memories and feel that maths is something they can do and enjoy!
If you have some multiply funding and would like to work with us to deliver some training for your practitioners or if you would like to find out more about our Community Champion programme, we would love to hear from you, please contact info@mathsontoast.org.uk.