Monday 6th Feb begins our our school's MATHS WEEK where the children will be taking part in their next house event, having a visitor in, learning about real life mathematicians and taking part in some exciting maths lessons.

House Challenge: All children in Year 1-6 will be competing in their houses in this month's house event. The Times Table challenge will allow all children to take part on Times Table Rockstars (Year 3-6) or 1 minute Maths (Year 1 and 2) in their houses.

Visitor - On Wednesday we are having a special maths visitor coming into school to work with all children from Reception to Year 6. He will run a short session with each class.

Real Life Mathematicians - Years 1 to 6 will learn about a different mathematician every day next week and they will have a go at solving a challenge linked to the mathematician.

Exciting Maths Lessons- The staff have planned some really exciting maths lessons for next week for your child to enjoy.

We will keep you updated with what they have been up to and send out some useful online resources too.

Thank you.

The children have had a wonderful first day of their Maths week.

Monday's Events

The children have had a maths lesson where they could only used practical equipment to work out their answers and explore mathematical concepts.

They have also learnt about some famous Mathematicians today. 

Years 5 and 6 learnt all about Zeno of Elea (495-430 BC) Zeno was a Greek philosopher who his known for his famous paradoxes, which have fascinated mathematicians for centuries. He wrote a book of paradoxes nearly 2,500 years ago.

Years 3 and 4 learnt about Hypatia (360-415). Hypatia was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in about 355 during the last years of the Roman Empire. Her father was a mathematician and astronomer who belonged to the Alexandrian Museum, a famous center of learning. Unlike most girls of her day, Hypatia was not kept at home with female relatives. She went to the museum to read and to listen to her father discuss ideas with other scholars. Hypatia is the earliest female mathematician of whom there is a reasonably detailed knowledge of her life and work.

Years 1 and 2 learnt about Wang Zhenyi (1768-1797).  Wang was born at a time when girls couldn’t go to school.  Luckily for her, she was born into a house of people who encouraged and supported her learning. Growing up, Wang took it upon herself to read her way through her grandfather’s entire library collection and self-taught herself maths and science. Wang was born at a time when girls couldn’t go to school.  Luckily for her, she was born into a house of people who encouraged and supported her learning. Growing up, Wang took it upon herself to read her way through her grandfather’s entire library collection and self-taught herself maths and science.

The house challenge has also started today and the children in Years 3,4,5 and 6 have started earning points on Times Table Rockstars. The children in Year 1 and 2 have started to see what 1 minute Maths is all about on the ipads too. 

The second day of Maths week has gone really well and the children have enjoyed themselves.

Tuesday's Events

The children's maths lesson focused on mental arithmetic and the children all played games to help them to be able to answer questions by working things out in their heads.

They have also learnt about some famous Mathematicians today.

Years 5 and 6 learnt all about Alan Turning (1912-1954) He was a English mathematician. Alan loved maths. He spent most of his time at school solving complex chess problems and learning advanced science all on his own.

Years 3 and 4 learnt about Ada Lovelace (1815-1852). She was the daughter of famous poet Lord Byron. She became one of the influential mathematicians and English writers of her time. Together with Charles Babbage, she worked on the Analytical Engine an early, mechanical computer. She also wrote the first algorithm to run on such a machine (to calculate Bernoulli numbers). She became the world's first computer programmer.

Years 1 and 2 learnt about Maryam Mirzakhani (1977-2017). She was from Iran and she was not initially so keen on maths but that, of course, did not last and she became a professor at Stanford University, inventing new formulas to solve some of maths’ most complicated puzzles. When solving problems, Maryam would draw doodles and diagrams on large sheets of paper, to see the underlying patterns and beauty. Her daughter even described Maryam’s work as “painting”.

The house challenge has continued on today. It is wonderful to see how many children in Years 3 -6 are logging into Times Table Rockstars at home and earning points for their houses.

The children in Years 1 and 2 have had more time on 1 minute maths again too.

Today has been a very exciting third day of our Maths week as we welcomed Mr Jones, a special maths visitor into school.

Wednesday's Events

Mr Jones came to set the whole school a challenge today. He told us all of a serious situation that had happened in London Zoo. An animal had gone missing and it was our job to find out what animal had been taken, how and when it had been taken who had taken it and why they did.

Mr Jones worked with each class to solve challenges to find out a clue to solve our mystery.

When we all came back into assembly, each class revealed their clue and we discovered what had happened to the poor animal. Don't worry, we have passed on all the information the children have found out and the animal has been found again and now is safe.

The children found out all of the following clues:

Reception found out who took the animal - Elsa

Year 1 found out who had helped - Mario

Year 2 learnt which animal had been taken - a crocodile

Year 3 worked out what time it happened - 6:15pm

Year 4 discovered where the animal had been taken - France

Year 5 worked together and found out that the animal had been taken in a van

Year 6 then found out the reason it was taken - to sell.

Well done to all of the hard work completed by all children. Children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 received an amazing Maths Whizz sticker and the children in Years 3-6 will receive coins that they can use on the Maths Whizz programme.

The house challenge has continued on today and lots of points have been won for the houses on TTRS already. Years 1 and 2 have also been getting faster on the ipads too.

Thursday's Events

Today in Maths the children were all solving problems.  Some of these involved adding, some fractions, and all of them involving lots of working together and thinking.  We have been really impressed at the way the children have tackled these problems.

They have also learnt about the last of their Mathematicians today.  

Years 5 and 6 learnt all about Pythagoras (570-495 BC) He was a Greek philosopher and mathematician.  He is best known for proving Pythagoras' theorem. It is thought that it was known to the Babylonians 1000 years earlier but Pythagoras may have been the first to prove it.

Years 3 and 4 learnt about Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) .  She was born in 1820 into a wealthy family. She was named after the city she was born in - Florence, in Italy. Florence worked hard at her studies. Her father eventually agreed to her plans and she trained as a nurse.  Florence was a talented mathematician who proved, using statistics, that keeping hospitals clean has a very beneficial effect on patients' recovery rates. She was the first woman to be elected to the Royal Statistical Society.

Years 1 and 2 learnt about Maryna Viazocska who is a present day mathematician.  She an Ukrainian professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne, Switzerland. She is the second woman ever to win a prestigious Fields medal, one of the most highly-coveted awards in mathematics.

Today is the final day of the house event and the children have tried really hard to collect as many points as they can before it finishes.  Results will be announced tomorrow.