CHURCHFIELDS Academy went number mad yesterday when staff and students competed in a Countdown game in aid of the NSPCC.

A number of events took place throughout the day to mark Number Day, which is run by the NSPCC with a view to promoting a love of maths in school.

At the beginning of every lesson pupils had a numeracy themed activity to complete, and at lunchtime staff and students grouped into teams of four to take part in a special maths Countdown Challenge.

Sharon Kirwan, headteacher at Churchfields, said: “It was fantastic to see so many staff and student teams from all year groups competing against each other and the countdown clock.

“There was a great atmosphere and it was good to see the brain cells at work with mental arithmetic.

“The next plan will be the word section to have another literacy event.”

Four teams of staff, all wearing a number on their backs, and 11 teams of students had to use their maths skills and a series of randomly generated numbers to get as close as they could to another number, similar to the Channel 4 TV programme.

There was even a ticking Countdown clock which marked the 30 seconds the team had to solve the puzzles.

They then had to run up to the team of maths staff who worked out who was the winner.

There were 10 sets of questions and everyone who took part was asked to make a small donation to the NSPCC.

The winning team were the Science Teachers team with seven points, but the team lost a point for not wearing numbers on their backs.

Prizes therefore went to Year 11 students Sam Davies, Laura Huynh, Shyrob Hussain and William Bennett who had 6.5 points and each won £10 Love to Shop vouchers.

The day was organised by Marek Koza, KS4 co-ordinator for maths, as part of the national Number Day held by the NSPCC.

Mr Koza said: “It was an opportunity to show our students that number skills are not only used in the maths classroom but can also be applied to all other subjects. This will hopefully give them an appreciation of where they are likely to encounter maths outside of school and prepare them for future life.”

Number Day, which was launched by the NSPCC in 2000, aims to make maths fun and encourage a positive attitude towards the subject.

At the same time it aims to help raise money to protect children in need of the charity’s help.

Since 2000 the NSPCC has raised more than £1.1 million alone towards supporting vulnerable children across the UK.

For more information about the NSPCC visit www.nspcc.org.uk