Launch of Maths Year 2000

"INSPIRING, informative and just wonderful" were some of the comments from teachers attending the conference to launch the Maths Year 2000 initiative in Blackburn and Darwen.

The event, held at Ewood Park and attended by representatives from almost every school in the borough, had the aims of promoting greater understanding of the teaching and learning of mathematics and of emphasising the subject as an essential tool for life and an enjoyable family and community activity.

Speakers helping to bring the messages home included Lynn Churchman, principal manager of the maths team at the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, Peter Blythe of the Institute of Neuro-Physiological Psychology, Bob Sawyer, assistant director of Stoke-on-Trent LEA and, to officially launch the project, Alan Newlands, educational director of Maths Year 2000.

Our own Newspapers in Education project was represented, and along with Blackburn Rovers' education centre and Bae Systems' education initiative, was praised by Alan Newlands as examples of how local businesses can help to raise standards in numeracy and literacy.

Activities and events are planned to promote Maths Year 2000 around the country, including six regional MathsFests, bi-monthly maths themes throughout the year and competitions linking maths with art and poetry. And if you have never thought of maths as fun, try finding fishing holes, polar bears and fish on a set of dice; just one of Bob Sawyer's ideas, guaranteed to amuse the family - and to improve your mental arithmetic.

Numbers game for a whole year...

IT all adds up to a year of fun activities, boosting numeracy skills in schools and throughout the community - and our newspaper will be playing a part in the Maths Year 2000 initiative through our Newspapers in Education project. We will be supporting the official themes of the initiative, which changing every two months, by publishing extracts from some of our NIE resources for schools, as activities to try wit your friends and family at home. The first of these, linked to the Maths on Time theme for January and February, gives a taste of our Pick and Mix literacy and numeracy material for pupils in KS2 and KS3, and will stimulate the maths muscles in older members of the family.

Sum fun: Time and tides

Look at the weather page in our newspaper and make a note of high and low tides and of sunrise and sunset today.

Using copies of our newspaper throughout the week, find the same information and make a chart showing the daily changes.

Can you work out a pattern to predict these times for the following days or week?

Look out for more maths fun in next week's NIE column.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.