A tiny Co Armagh primary school earmarked for closure has won second place in a national maths competition.
Kingsmills Primary School has been identified for closure because of falling enrolment numbers, with a development proposal to ‘discontinue’ expected to be published shortly.
A pre-publication consultation several weeks ago was the first indication of the Education Authority’s intentions.
A proud rural school, the young people have shown the calibre of teaching and learning offered within Kingsmills Primary’s walls.
Figures on roll books are one thing, but these young people could teach all a thing or two about numbers!
Read more: ‘We won’t let Kingsmills school go down without a fight’ says mum-of-three
The school, based in Whitecross, has scooped second place at the annual, national SpringBoard maths competition.
Over the duration of this 10-week maths challenge, under the guidance of teacher Mrs Courtney, the children at Kingsmills Primary School successfully completed online maths activities to come second against 400,000 other students from more than 20,000 classes.
The 8th edition of the SpringBoard Maths Challenge 2022 run by SplashLearn, the game-based learning program was rolled out for primary classrooms on March 1, 2022, with the competition ending on May 8, 2022.
Arpit Jain, CEO, SplashLearn, said “I’m thrilled for all the kids a Kingsmills Primary School and their teacher Mrs Courtney. SplashLearn would like to congratulate each and every school, teacher, and student who participated in the competition.
“We are glad to be part of their journey as they collaborate and celebrate learning. The competition has motivated students to stay engaged and excited, which has always been our goal with everything we build at SplashLearn.”
Class teacher Mrs Courtney said: “The children had so much fun completing the online maths activities, they looked forward to it every day.
“I noticed them develop a love of maths which is a wonderful accomplishment for any class. To then find out that we came in second place out of all the UK schools in the competition was incredible! We can’t wait to take part next year.”
Joy Deep Nath, co-founder, SplashLearn, added: “SpringBoard is designed for students to revise, review and practice key maths concepts so they end the school year with maths confidence, well prepared to move up to the next year.
“The secure, familiar and friendly setting to practice along with the peers encourages kids to do the best while having fun.
“The SpringBoard competition was needed more so this year as classrooms across the nation have been trying their best to recover from the pandemic loss.”
