Through the partnership with the University of Liverpool Maths School, Inversity will provide AI education, real-world skill development challenges, and hiring opportunities to local students aged 14-19. The project will culminate in students tackling three Liverpool-themed challenges set by local organisational leaders through the Inversity platform using their AI expertise, with top performers eligible for awards. Inversity will also offer heavily subsidised AI masterclasses for local teachers until March 2025, and hold a hackathon centred around AI’s role in education for students on 9th November at the University of Liverpool.

“AI is a powerful tool for addressing society’s most pressing challenges. By equipping Liverpool’s youth with the skills to harness AI responsibly, we’re not just educating students – we’re empowering the next generation of problem-solvers. Our partnership with the University of Liverpool Maths School is a crucial step in democratising AI education and unlocking the technological potential of the Liverpool City Region,” said Dr James Kuht MBE, CEO and co-founder of Inversity.

“I was born and bred in Liverpool and was very fortunate to get an education that allowed me to take part in the personal, mobile and cloud computing revolutions. Today we see significant corporate investment in computing power and algorithms, fuelling an AI revolution and importantly giving young people access to many powerful AI tools for free.

I am delighted to work with Inversity and the University of Liverpool Maths School to bring the latest training in AI to talented, deserving Liverpool students and their teachers who want to be part of this exciting new wave,” said Dr Steve Garnett, Inversity investor.

Inversity was launched by Dr James Kuht MBE in September 2023. Kuht served as a Doctor in the Royal Air Force before transitioning to pioneer AI applications at No.10 Downing Street and becoming the first-ever Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of a specialist military unit. Realising AI’s potential to solve real-world problems, James Kuht founded Inversity to provide knowledge workers and students across the UK with engaging, practical AI education that goes beyond textbook theory.

Inversity’s work in Liverpool is supported by Dr Steve Garnett, who has moved into angel investment and philanthropic projects following his leadership roles in enterprise software. He is also the founder of the Garnett Foundation.

This partnership builds on the University of Liverpool Maths School’s ongoing relationship with Inversity, as its students have won the last two Inversity challenges and one has completed a summer internship with the startup.

“We are thrilled to be working more closely with Inversity, a collaboration that continues to provide our students with invaluable exposure to cutting-edge AI education.” said Damian Haigh, Headteacher at University of Liverpool Maths School. “We’re trying to prepare our young people with the skills to solve some of society’s biggest challenges. AI is becoming the fundamental tool for solving these challenges, so working with Inversity to upskill our students in AI is our major focus for this year. We’re excited to see pupils participating in our outreach programme from schools across the city region.”

ESSENTIALMATHS is a way of rebuilding passion for maths, alongside deep understanding for children and staff at the same time.

The original ESSENTIALMATHS curriculum was launched by HFL Education in 2017 and has been successfully rolled out in over 800 schools.

Following feedback from teachers, ESSENTIALMATHS has been relaunched with a brand-new online platform which features long term curriculum plans, lesson plans and supporting resources including maths games, reasoning and rehearsal sheets and homework – all in one place.

Teachers will also find new diagnostic assessment tools on the platform which use carefully chosen multiple choice questions for end of term or end of year assessments to help them identify gaps in pupils’ knowledge and understanding. Using progress tracking identifiers, all the ESSENTIALMATHS resources are linked so that teachers can quickly refer back to previous learning to go over less secure content.

In addition to separate year group curriculum content for reception up to year 6, ESSENTIALMATHS has also responded to the needs of small schools, with planning specifically designed for mixed aged classes.

Charlie Harber, Primary Maths Lead at HFL Education, said: “Maths shouldn’t be endured. It needs to be loved. Our new ESSENTIALMATHS offers an expanded library of resources for teachers to make planning lessons and follow up learning practical and manageable, saving time and reducing workload. Everything is in complete alignment, from what children do in the classroom and at home, to what they learn as they progress from one year to the next. This small-step, mastery approach reinforces what children are learning, to build their confidence and foster an enjoyment of maths.

“There are also some added extras on the online platform that are unique to ESSENTIALMATHS. For example, we have created a gallery where teachers can share pictures of their pupils’ work and examples of best practice which have worked for their class. To build a community, the online forums allow users to post messages, either for other users with the same class structure or for HFL Education maths advisers. So, there’s a lot of support on the platform to help teachers deliver the best maths curriculum for their children.”

The ESSENTIALMATHS platform will be updated regularly with new content and resources. To gain access to the platform, schools can choose a standard subscription that contains plans, learning sequences, handouts and assessments, or choose the premium package which also features rehearsal and reasoning resources, homework resources, curriculum progressions, ‘tracking back’ booklets and other tools to enhance teachers’ knowledge and confidence. Premium users will also have access termly CPD sessions either live or on demand.

Over 100 schools have already invested in the new version of ESSENTIALMATHS, and feedback has already been very positive:

“We have started using the Rehearsal and Reasoning sheets and it’s a bit like finding the missing piece to the jigsaw,” said Alison Broomfield, Maths Subject Leader, St Andrews C of E Primary School and Nursery, Much Hadham, Hertfordshire.

“I love the links to cognitive science. The links between year groups are great to support growing SEND needs,” said Zoe Hall, Mastery Specialist & Trust Maths Lead, Northampton Primary Academy Trust.

With the current conversion rate from A Level to undergraduate study, around 150,000 girls would need to study A levels in maths or physics (or both), in order to reach the same number of male undergraduates. This is a significant increase of around 115,000 girls compared to current numbers.

The report, which follows International Day of Women and Girls in Science, reveals that 23% of male students who studied A levels in maths or physics, or both, went on to study engineering and technology in higher education. However, just 8% of female students who took the same subject(s) went on to study engineering and technology degrees.

This translates to a stark gender divide, with only 18% of those studying undergraduate degrees in engineering and technology being female, compared to 57% for all degree subjects combined.

Dr Claudia Mollidor, Head of Research and Evaluation at EngineeringUK, comments, “The gender disparity within undergraduate degrees in engineering and technology is really concerning. Given that A levels in maths and physics are often a prerequisite for such degrees, we need to do more to make sure these subjects are attractive and accessible to girls at school. Particularly given we know girls perform as well as boys, or even outperform them, in these subjects.

“Cultivating this interest and appetite at an early stage will be crucial, so that when it comes to selecting GCSEs and A levels, girls are informed and inspired to choose subjects that will allow them to progress into engineering and tech careers.”

The report, which is based on Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data, reveals that of the first-year undergraduates in engineering and technology who had studied both maths and physics at A level, only 22% were female students. However, when looking at these subjects separately, the figures jump to 50% of female students having taken maths only and 31% physics only. This highlights the importance of continuing to move away from the preferred prerequisites for these courses being A levels in both subjects and widening the entry qualifications accepted – in order to address gender imbalances.

“With the UK challenged to meet net zero by 2050, there is an urgent need for more young people to enter into engineering and technology careers. However, at present just 16.5% of the engineering workforce are female,” comments Claudia Mollidor.

“It’s clear the UK will struggle to get on top of its acute skills shortage, if it fails to increase the number of women entering into engineering-related careers. The first step to addressing this is to increase girls’ interest and engagement with science and maths at school.”

More encouragingly, for students with A levels in both maths and physics, engineering and technology is the top higher education study subject of choice. However, there is still a gender imbalance here with 39% of male students choosing the subject vs 29% of female students.

The report – ‘From A levels to engineering: Exploring the gender gap in higher education’ is available to download at https://www.engineeringuk.com/media/318816/a-levels-to-engineering_report_engineeringuk_feb23fv.pdf.

The acquisition of DoodleLearning supports Discovery Education’s mission to prepare learners for tomorrow by creating innovative classrooms connected to today’s world. DoodleLearning complements Discovery Education’s other award-winning digital services, which include Discovery Education’s K-12 platform, Mystery Science, STEM Connect, the Math, Science, and Social Studies Techbooks, Espresso, Coding and Health and Relationships.

“Discovery Education is dedicated to creating a best-in-class edtech ecosystem that supports our mission to prepare today’s students for future success,” said Discovery Education Chief Executive Officer Scott Kinney. “This acquisition is an important milestone in that effort, and we look forward to both partnering with the talented DoodleLearning team and scaling the reach of their innovative, adaptive maths and English products.”

Prior to founding DoodleLearning, Chief Executive Officer Nicola Chilman and Chief Operating Officer Tom Minor taught maths. In 2011, after experiencing first hand technology’s ability to accelerate student learning, Chilman and Minor created an app combining high-quality digital content and educational supports that encouraged children to learn in an engaging and personal way.

Today, DoodleLearning offers four products supporting instruction in maths and English for ages 4-14 that have been used by over one million children in the U.K. and around the world. As part of the Discovery Education family of services, DoodleLearning will continue to apply its educational ability to building and deploying affordable learning solutions for students worldwide.

“The entire DoodleLearning team is excited to join Discovery Education’s efforts to build and scale a powerful edtech ecosystem of digital resources serving teachers and learners worldwide,” said Nicola Chilman, DoodleLearning Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder. “Our team will naturally fit into Discovery Education’s mission-driven culture, and we look forward to working with our new colleagues on our joint mission to prepare today’s students for future success.”

“DoodleLearning is excited to join the Discovery Education team,” said Tom Minor, Chief Operating Officer, and Co-Founder of DoodleLearning. “The company has laid out exciting plans to increase the number of instructional minutes it supports each day, and DoodleLearning is poised to play a significant role in this effort.”

DoodleLearning is Discovery Education’s latest acquisition. In October 2020, Discovery Education acquired Mystery Science and in July 2020, Discovery Education purchased Spiral. In August of 2019, Discovery Education announced the acquisition of Inspyro.

For more information about Discovery Education’s award-winning digital resources and professional learning services, visit www.discoveryeducation.co.uk, and stay connected with Discovery Education on social media through Twitter and LinkedIn.

Launched in 2017 and available to every primary school in England and Wales, Premier League Primary Stars uses the appeal of the Premier League and professional football clubs to support pupils in the classroom, the playground and on the sports field.

Premier League Primary Stars’ range of more than 640 curriculum-linked activities support teachers to build their pupils’ confidence in key areas from Maths and English to PSHE and Physical Education and can be used off-the-shelf or tailored to suit teachers’ needs. More than 58,000 teachers have downloaded and used the free curriculum-linked resources since the programme began.

To mark the five-year anniversary, the Premier League is launching the Active Summer Challenge. This brand new initiative will challenge pupils to find five ways to keep active during the summer holidays, a time when fitness levels can drop. The new resources are now available for teachers to download for free on the Premier League Primary Stars website.

Exclusive content featuring Premier League players, club coaches and experts has been created to support teachers to inspire pupils deliver impactful PE lessons. Nine out of 10 teachers believe that they have seen an increase in pupils’ enjoyment of sport and physical activity linked to the programme.

In addition to PE, English and Maths resources, Premier League Primary Stars also supports teachers to deliver classroom-based discussions and activities on important societal topics such as anti-discrimination, mental health and gender stereotypes linked to No Room for Racism, Wellbeing Stars, and Rainbow Laces. After using the PSHE resources, 72% said that their pupils understand more about how to challenge prejudice and discrimination and 79% of teachers said their pupils have a better understanding of how to look after their own wellbeing.

Natalie Sutton, School Manager at Sandfield Close Primary School, said: “The Premier League Primary Stars programme has opened up so many opportunities and doors to us that we wouldn’t have been able to open on our own. We’ve had such a positive experience since joining back in 2018. It is important to measure progress but for me, it is also important to see our pupils expand their thinking and learn about key subjects in a fun and engaging way. It has all been so positive for us as teachers, but more importantly beneficial to the learning of our pupils.”

www.PLPrimaryStars.com

Maisha Mema’s vision is “to create a conducive environment for the children in the program through learning and activities so that they will be brought up to be useful citizens of Kenya in terms of getting an education and a job.”

Michael Kyavoa, Teacher, Maisha Mema, explains: “We have worked with Whizz Education since 2016 for our children to access the award-winning virtual tutor Maths-Whizz.  Currently, we have 113 licences, so children, mainly from Play Group to Grade 5 (6-14 years), use Maths-Whizz on a regular basis, funded by St. Olav VGS in Stavanger, Norway, whose generous contribution also covers our WiFi.

“All beneficiaries of Maisha Mema attend public school during the day. When they return in the afternoons, we then work with them to ensure they understood their lessons and anywhere where they found challenges, can be set on Maths-Whizz.  This reinforces learning and really helps build confidence when they are in school.”

90% of Maisha Mema’s students who made 2.5 progressions or more, since the beginning of the academic year, have achieved accelerated progress. 

“Our Whizz Education Success Partner, Matt Jones has been incredible.  He has provided several meeting and training sessions with all of our staff over zoom. He is always available to help and answer any questions.

“One area we have found most helpful is that Maths-Whizz enables us to monitor the progress of each child and groups of learners too.  This is a good point of reference for our teachers.  Every teacher has their own password and log in to access detailed information.  This enables us to drill down into subtopics so we can clearly assess strengths and weaknesses.  The data empowers us as teachers to step in and support individuals, groups of learners or a whole class on a particular topic.  In this way it helps guide our lesson planning on a daily basis.

“The Teachers Resource aspect of the solution is also very helpful.  This is a library and tool containing lesson plans and guides which we can use to plan lessons on specific topics.

“The virtual tutor itself is really well received by the children.  They love the games, animals and animation, and genuinely enjoy working through the programme.  It means there is not a ‘formal’ classroom feeling and learners are active in making progress by themselves.   One of the best aspects of Maths-Whizz is that it pitches the learning at the level of the individual child.  It automatically assesses and tailors online lessons to match knowledge and ability.  We often use it to recap on our normal lessons and yet, everyone is working at their own level and pace.

“Because we use an English version of Maths-Whizz, incidentally, we have found this helps children with their English too!   As well as reading, the sounds help them with their pronunciation.

“Following the COVID lockdown, we were allowed to let five children at a time access our Maths-Whizz room although we still couldn’t teach.   This helped them keep up to date with their maths learning as much as they possibly could given the circumstances.

“Maths-Whizz is now helping us prepare students’ learning for the new CBC curriculum which has been introduced, as they eventually work towards a new national exam when they reach Grade 6.

“Overall, working with Whizz Education and being able to access the virtual tutor Maths-Whizz has helped our learners so much.  Ultimately, the knowledge they have acquired will help our children get jobs in the future and improve their life outcomes.”

If you would like to sponsor or donate to Maisha Mema please visit: www.maishamema.org

For further information about Whizz Education please see:  www.whizz.com

The Education Resources Awards, organised by Brilliant Marketing Solutions and the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA), highlight the quality and diversity of educational products and resources, excellent educational establishments and the most dedicated members of the teaching profession and supplier industry, all working together to encourage the very best in education.

Emma Ringe, Schools Director, Whizz Education explains: “Wow, to be shortlisted for three ERA awards is a huge achievement for our team!  We are particularly proud that our work has been recognised in association with Roskear Primary School in the Collaboration with a School category, as the teachers and students have made excellent progress in maths.

“We began work with Roskear Primary school in Cornwall early in 2019 with the objective of accelerating progress of lower attaining pupils through the mathematics curriculum, resulting in an increase of pupils achieving age-related progress expectations within teacher assessment.

“Whizz Education now delivers an innovative menu of services – including planning, training, assessment and reporting, live impact data, course correction plus access to our virtual tutor Maths-Whizz – to improve learning outcomes in maths and drive-up standards of attainment, all tailored to the needs of Roskear.”

So far, this academic year, over 90% of Roskear pupils who used Maths-Whizz for 50 minutes or more have made accelerated progress on their maths-age.

Jess Morris-Marsham Maths Leader, Team Leader for Years 3 and 4 and Year 5 Teacher Roskear Primary School stated: “Our most recent assessments identified the Year 2 pupils who were below ARE in the autumn due to learning loss following COVID.  Following the after-school interventions where children used the virtual tutor Maths-Whizz for two hours per week, plus their weekly lesson in class, each one of those children had reached ARE within six weeks.

“Working with Whizz Education to help our students improve learning outcomes has been extremely rewarding.  We are delighted to have been nominated for this important award which recognises the great progress of our pupils across the full range of abilities.”

The winners of the Education Resource Awards will be announced at an event at The National Conference Centre Birmingham on 6th May 2022.

For further information about The Education Resource Awards please see: www.educationresourcesawards.co.uk and for Whizz Education please see: www.whizz.com

Together with education resource centre, iChild, the Office for National Statistics has once again created content which will bring census data to life in the classroom.

Since the programme launched in January this year, over 1,200 schools across England and Wales have already registered, with more than 250,000 children set to take part.

For instant access to the new resources, schools can simply register for this year’s programme at https://letscount.ichild.co.uk

Resources include five new easy-to-use lessons which take children on a journey from collecting the data through to analysing and publishing the findings.

Each lesson is available in English and Welsh and is suitable for both classroom and remote learning. There will also be a video lesson for participating schools delivered by ONS experts.

Pete Benton, Deputy National Statistician for Health, Population and Methods at the ONS, said: “With the Census 2021 results due out this summer what better time to inspire young minds about the census and statistics? It’s great to see so many schools signing up to our popular Let’s Count! educational programme. Through these fantastic resources pupils will gain an understanding of the importance of the census and how we turn the information we collect into statistics which will help them, their school and their local area.”

Phil Bird, CEO of Family & Education/iChild said: “We are thrilled to launch these new lessons with ONS for Let’s Count! 2022. The free resources use Census 2021, a significant real-life event, as a stimulus and can be personalised to a school’s local area. Children can learn about the importance of the census and how it supports local services.

The programme supports numeracy, history, geography and writing skills, and follows on from the 14 lessons developed for Let’s Count! 2021 which are all still available. Over 1,200 schools are already taking part and we encourage other primary schools to register today!”

St Alban’s CE Primary School in Havant (Hampshire) was named Overall Winner in last year’s Let’s Count! competition for schools. Deputy Head, Sharon James, said: “We are really looking forward to taking part in Let’s Count! again this year, in the build-up to the population announcement. We took part last year in the Let’s Count census activity and it reminded our school that no matter how small the numbers, every ‘ONE’ can and should make a difference. It showed us that our individual actions added together have the power to impact positively on the lives of others. It inspired us to keep ensuring that data makes a difference!”

St. Giles Catholic Primary School in Stoke-on-Trent also took part in Let’s Count! 2021. Kate Haines, Maths Lead, said: “The children found the whole census process fascinating last year. They loved the idea that maths and census data could have a real impact on their own local area and their own everyday lives. They really enjoyed using the lesson resources provided and the counter cats were very popular across all year groups! We are very excited about taking part again this year.”

Alongside the lessons, schools are encouraged to hold their own Let’s Count! day in the build up to the first Census 2021 results, where children can count things and collect data on any cause or subject that matters to them or their school. Census 2021 was a huge success with 97% of households across England and Wales taking part.

Register here: https://letscount.ichild.co.uk/

Fiona Goddard, Education Consultant at Whizz Education explains: “We know that Maths education is essential in developing an understanding of climate change.  Without numbers, pupils would not understand ideals like the carbon budget or the limit of 1.5 degrees of warming at the centre of climate change debates.  This learning could help pupils to deploy their maths in innovative, world-changing ways.

“We are now inviting schools to join-in with our Building for a Greener Future summer activities.  Pupils could be measuring rainfall while elevating maths skills by collecting and recording how many millimetres of liquid are captured and discussing how to make the records useful, fair and impactful in the future.  Getting involved with Whizz Education’s collaborative summer project with PiXL might provide other inspirations for local interests too!

“As well as teaching students to handle numbers, the summer project has the capacity to inspire, engage and empower.  Numerous studies have shown that climate change education has the biggest impact when students are encouraged to take responsibility for learning about issues that impact them and their communities.  Join us and help make a difference!”

Whizz Education is an education partner dedicated to improving learning outcomes.  For further information and to access free resources from Whizz Education and PiXL’s free summer climate project please see:  https://www.whizz.com/summer-challenge-2022/

Millions of young people across the UK are set to benefit from a unique schools’ programme that puts creativity and collaboration at the heart of learning based on real-world examples.

UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK is launching the programme designed to inspire young people, aged 4 to 19, with its creative projects showcasing collaborations across science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM).

The UNBOXED projects involve hundreds of events and activities across the UK and online, and cover a range of ideas, including space and science, the environment, growing and sustainability, and history and community. From a bio-diverse forest in a city centre to a North Sea offshore platform transformed into a giant artwork, schools can experience first-hand these creative successes when engineering and design, scientific research and technological innovation, including AR and artistic work, come together.

Designed by educators, teachers, technicians and artists with a wealth of experience in STEAM, this free learning programme from UNBOXED includes engaging and fun lesson plans, worksheets and presentations to stimulate young people’s creative thinking, encourage global citizenship and develop the skills they will need for the future of work. The resources are aligned to the curriculum across all home nations and suitable for enrichment and personal development. The programme is entirely flexible and offers a complete blend of class-based, online, real-world and location-based learning.

Resources currently available are linked to About Us, an immersive journey through 13.8 billion years of our history from the Big Bang to the present day; Our Place in Space, designed by renowned artist and writer Oliver Jeffers, which recreates the solar system as a 10-kilometre trail here on earth and Dreamachine, an artwork you ‘see’ with your eyes closed, which explores the human mind, as part of a massive research project into human perception.

Future resources will be based on StoryTrails, one of the biggest people’s history projects ever undertaken; Dandelion, a Scotland-wide growing project that reimagines the harvest festival for the 21st century; Green Space Dark Skies, which considers the environment and the UK’s beautiful landscapes; PoliNations, which is inspired by the fact that almost 80 per cent of the UK’s plant life originates from overseas; GALWAD: A story from our future, which projects the population into 2052, and SEE MONSTER, a feat of engineering and design that transforms a decommissioned off-shore North Sea platform into a space to playfully explore reflect the great British weather, reuse and sustainability.

According to a recent report from the Policy & Evidence Centre ”The promotion of creativity in educational settings can help young people build entrepreneurial skills and improve their future employability”. The UNBOXED Learning Programme recognises the importance for teachers to provide future skills-based and real-world learning to the classroom and seeks to reinvigorate creativity in every classroom in the UK. It believes creativity – our creativity – has the power to change the world.

Bhav Patel, Year 5 Teacher at West Hill Primary School, Staffordshire, said: “The resources we had from About Us were brilliant. They give children the ability to combine their creativity and science knowledge, through writing a poem based on space. It was so popular we had children asking to stay in rather than go out and play. The free resources are perfect for any teacher to just pick up and build into their lesson planning to increase engagement in the classroom and provide an exciting learning experience.”

UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK is the biggest and most ambitious creative programme ever presented on these shores. It is funded and supported by the four governments of the UK, and is co-commissioned with Belfast City Council, EventScotland and Creative Wales.

Explore the free resources and join the UNBOXED Learning Programme today: unboxed2022.uk/learning-programme