There is nothing like a challenge to fire boys’ competitive natures, and this week Maths did just that.
Our Y5 and Y6 boys have spent the last two weeks competing against each other in their maths classes and with pupils across the country in the ‘Back to School Doodle Challenge’. Their challenge, as well as earning stars, was to stay within the ‘green zone’, which required them to consistently spend about ten minutes a day on their maths. The winning classes, 5Ma and 6Ma, were delighted to enjoy a special board games lesson today – their prize for coming first.
Meanwhile, our Y7 and Y8 boys were set the SumDog Challenge, which they took on with great enthusiasm – with boys even playing during their breaks or at lunchtime in their bid to top of the leaderboard, individually and as Tutor Groups. SumDog helps to accelerate boys’ maths progress with personalised games, and just ten minutes a day consistently makes a real difference.
Oliver explained, “There are loads of fun games to challenge your maths, and you want to do well and answer them as quickly as you can.”
As with many games, success – in this case, solving maths challenges – earns points, which boys can then ‘spend’ on their avatars and their virtual homes outside of school hours – an added incentive for the boys. But what could be a better incentive and competition prize for hungry boys than doughnuts – a prize the boys in 7EG and 8KD were delighted to win.
Head of Maths, Mrs Lee, told us, “I am delighted with the boys’ enthusiasm for these two challenges. Both encouraged them to practice their maths little and often, an excellent and valuable habit to develop.”
And the statistics . . .
In the SumDog challenge alone, the ten Y7 and Y8 classes answered over 30,000 questions in seven days, averaging 150 questions per boy. Top playing, boys!
