Creative approach to maths

Staff at St Finbar’s Catholic Primary, Liverpool know how important numeracy is to the futures of the children they work with – so they’ve been taking some innovative and creative approaches to maths across the school.

Early Years children have been developing their mathematical vocabulary and understanding of shapes while having great fun with their new, giant, 3D blocks – while KS1 trips to Knowsley Safari Park and Chester Zoo, together with KS2 visits to Liverpool University and Halifax’s Eureka Centre have provided a huge range of opportunities for mathematical thinking.

And, recently, every child in the school met privateer turned pirate, Captain Richard Morgan, as he found himself swept to St Finbar’s by a time tornado.

In one of a range of creative maths workshops designed and delivered by multi-arts organisation as creatives, Captain Morgan needed the pupils’ help in returning to his ship, The Good Ship Mathematics – and so set them a number of interactive and energetic challenges, exploring number operations, shapes, spaces, measurements and positional language.

Clare Webster, the school’s maths co-ordinator, is delighted to report that St Finbar’s not only rose to the Captain’s challenges – but also passed each and every one of them!

“We had a wonderful day,” she said, “and the children thoroughly enjoyed all the activities – which absolutely meets our commitment to providing them with opportunities to enjoy numeracy in meaningful ways.”

She also reported that, desperate to know if Captain Morgan made it safely home, the children were delighted to receive a letter from him (dated 1688!) thanking them for their help and telling them he was back on The Good Ship Mathematics.