St. Columbas School, Huyton

In 2018 Faiths4Change worked with St. Columbas School in Huyton, executing gardening sessions with years 5 & 6, while also implementing the core principles of the Liverpool Counts programme into our sessions.

Click HERE for the Year 5 students' blog and HERE for the Year 6 students, including photos & information from our joint sessions.

The agreed policies of the Liverpool Counts programme, credited to their website HERE, are as follows;

• To raise standards in mathematics and numeracy with fun and joy of number at the heart of all aspects of the strategy
• To challenge perceptions and change attitudes towards number and mathematics
• To raise the profile of numeracy through a range of activities, events and resources with an emphasis on the application to real life contexts
• To bring relevance to numeracy through problem solving set in local contexts
• To enhance the delivery of the new national curriculum at all key stages and the early years foundation stage
• To secure a shared understanding between the phases of education with an agreed common mathematical language and transition projects
• To promote the use of technology to engage learners
• To involve parents and the local business and cultural communities
• To creating a sustainable legacy of a love of numbers

This project used raised beds and the garden to encompass the whole food cycle from sowing seeds to food waste.  Weekly sessions were organised specifically through and related to the schools chosen topic area of that week in fun and interesting ways that fully met the requirements of Liverpool Counts.  This programme and approach encouraged discovery and enquiry, a love and practical understanding of numbers, food, science, nature, & history, and the relationships between maths and all areas of life.