Hazlegrove Prep pupils study ‘Maths Down on the Farm’

Every Autumn term, the Maths Department at Hazlegrove Prep School puts the normal programme of maths lessons on hold for just one week and have an enormous amount of fun exploring and unpacking the maths behind a unusual topic or an area of particular interest that is beyond the normal reach of the syllabus. This term the focus was ‘Maths Down on the Farm’.

All pupils from Year 3 to 8 had a great time getting to grips with some of challenging and fascinating maths that working on a farm and raising animals involves. In some of the classes they did some serious data crunching trying to get to grips with what makes for a successful and prosperous dairy farm. In other classes they were challenged to design, research and run their own small holding and cope with all the mathematical hurdles required to make a reasonable profit in this tough sector of the economy.

Johnathan Shaw, head of maths, said, ‘We always try, in every single lesson, to make the maths they are learning as relevant and as meaningful as possible but these special weeks where we can let the children take the initiative and control the direction of their projects, depending on what interests them, are always tremendous fun. It is wonderful for the children to see the concepts and methods they have mastered in the run up to this week being put to the test in a real-world context.’

All in all, a superb week with plenty of challenges and loads of exciting mathematical investigations.