Children have used their maths skills to find their way out of ‘escape rooms’ in a special fun challenge at St Gregory’s Catholic Primary in Margate.
They enlisted the help of their parents for the classroom task as they unravelled a series of problems to crack the code that led to their ‘release’.
The initiative involved all year groups with bespoke escape rooms linked to their topics – Years 5 and 6 had a World War Two theme, Years 3 and 4 encountered an Egyptian theme, Years 1 and 2 faced problems involving animals and their habitats, while the Early Years groups tackled a range of maths table activities.
This interactive challenge provided a hands-on experience for both parents and children to engage with mathematics in a fun and stimulating way.
St Gregory’s Maths Lead Athanasia Papa-Adams, who is also Head of Upper Key Stage 2, explained: “We strongly encouraged all parents to attend this session as it offered a unique opportunity to have an enjoyable and educational experience with their child.
“We believed their involvement in their child’s learning journey is invaluable and would greatly enhance their progress and enjoyment of mathematics.
“It was a wonderful event with great comments from parents about how rewarding and enjoyable the mathematics experience was for both them and their child.”
It was the first time St Gregory’s had staged an escape room challenge linked to Maths and other curricular topics – the overwhelming positive response means that a further challenge will be planned.
Head Teacher Dave Walker is pleased with the way the challenge involved the whole school. He said: “It was designed to co-ordinate all age ranges and involved their Maths learning as well as linking into their current topic work.
“It was such a positive experience – we strongly believe that learning should also be about having fun and this initiative clearly ticked all the boxes. We are all looking forward to the next one.”