Francesca, our Events & Schools Manager, travelled to Scarborough to deliver a teacher training workshop as part of North Yorkshire Coast Opportunity Area’s inaugural ‘Maths Month’…
The maths began before I’d even left London. My train from Kings Cross departed from Platform 0 – confirmation for anyone who may doubt that ‘0’ is in fact a real number!
My workshop provided primary teachers with all the tools they needed to deliver their own Festival of Triangles. We explored the challenges facing schools in terms of parental engagement with maths: Festival of Triangles is a model activity to broaden and deepen positive family attitudes to mathematics through a community maths week, culminating in a big family event.
Delegates went away enthused about planning and preparing their own Festival of Triangles and were keen to spread the word that the triangles were coming…
As preparations drew closer, triangles were popping up everywhere.
It was wonderful to see lots of engagement on social media showing how maths is all around us in our everyday lives.
And it was even better to hear how much the events themselves were enjoyed by the schools and families taking part:
St. Hedda’s Primary in Whitby said their festival was ‘such a great success – a super evening and loads of fun activities.’
One teacher from Gladstone Road Primary in Scarborough said ‘[I’m] so proud of our school…So much teamwork-involved pupils, families and school staff. A brilliant school event.’
Other participating schools have planned their festivals to take place in the Summer Term so we can look forward to seeing more super Sierpinski structures along the North Yorkshire Coast in the coming months…
And we hope that, inspired by Maths Month, communities in the area will continue to engage in creative maths at school, at home and when out and about. Remember, maths is everywhere and for everyone!
Check out some ideas for fun family maths here:
The Department for Education’s Opportunity Area has allocated £100,000 over two years to Maths Month North Yorkshire Coast to change perceptions of maths and numeracy and raise aspirations among young people. 2019’s Maths Month ran across Whitby, Scarborough and Filey, throughout March, with an array of free, fun maths events for schools and families to enjoy. Find out more by visiting northyorkshirecoastoa.co.uk/maths-month/