Pupils really put on sum show

The competition, organised by Edinburgh-based education technology company Sumdog, began in March and saw almost 1000 pupils from 37 classes in 24 schools in the Falkirk area competing to win the coveted Sumdog Maths Champions trophy.

In the end there can be only one winner and Grangemouth’s Moray Primary School class 6W were crowned champs last month.

The Moray youngsters, and all the other pupils involved, worked individually in their class groups to answer up to 1000 maths questions each over the duration of the contest using Sumdog’s innovative online learning system.

Over 345,000 questions, customised to each pupil’s level of ability based on an initial assessment, were answered by all the pupils in all the classes in all the schools during the week-long contest.

Moray Primary 6W class clocked a winning score of 748 correct answers and David Mackay, head of education at Falkirk Council, presented them with their winning trophy recently.

Mr Mackay said: “The development of numeracy skills is essential for all children and young people. It is one of the keys to unlocking their potential as well as opportunities in life.

“I am delighted so many of our schools and pupils have participated in this competition to further highlight the importance of numeracy and maths skills.”

Sumdog, a highly-engaging learning and intervention numeracy platform which aims to close the poverty-related attainment gap, is now used in 70 per cent of all schools in Scotland.

Sumdog CEO Andrew Hall said: “We’re delighted to have had so many schools from across Falkirk compete in the contest. On behalf of everyone at Sumdog, I’d like to express my huge congratulations to all the Primary 6W pupils at Moray Primary School on becoming the Falkirk Spring Maths Contest champions.

“Digital technology is becoming an increasingly important and powerful tool for teachers and pupils in the classroom. Used properly, we believe it can make a real and meaningful contribution towards encouraging learning and improving attainment.

“We’re very grateful to all schools who took part for their efforts.”