Maths Festival really did 'add up'
Photographed: Stuart Kenny (centre left) and Robert Stewart with the certificate winners.
A Maths Festival for school pupils! – would you count on that being a real success?
Well, add together 3,500 school pupils and staff from Letchworth Garden City schools, a number of Universities, a wide range of organisations with an interest in education and the answer is that last week's Maths and ICT Festival was a resounding success.
Organised jointly by Fearnhill School, Mathematics and Computing College and Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation – the Festival, with its 38 individual events – followed in the footsteps of last year's Science Festival, which also proved very popular.
This year's Festival involved Fearnhill, The Highfield, St Christopher, St Francis College, Grange School, Norton St Nicholas, Stonehill, Wilbury, Radburn, Pixmore and Lannock schools.
Included in the packed itinerary were a number of diverse lectures, several with student participation; a magician that performed a number of simple tricks and explained the maths behind the tricks; a Fun Maths Road Show; various workshops; The Millennium Maths Programme of Code Breaking with one of the few original surviving Enigma De-coding machines which saved many lives in World War Two; ‘Mission to Mars' – designing, assembling and testing lego robots; Digital Art and Money Management concepts etc.
The event culminated with an Awards Evening at Fearnhill School, on Wednesday, Feb 7, when Stuart Kenny, Director General of Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation and Robert Stewart, MD of Stevenage Packaging, gave keynote speeches and presented certificates to pupils.
Those directly involved with the Festival included Liverpool University, Cambridge University, Hertfordshire University, Onslow St Audrey's School Business and Enterprise College, Hertfordshire Setpoint, Hertfordshire Groundwork Trust, ‘Young Biz', Soul Traders, Hertfordshire Carers Service, Broadway Cinema and Hertfordshire Careers Service.
Alastair Stewart, the Heritage Foundation's Education Development Manager, said: “It has been wonderful to involve so many different organisations and offer such a breadth of opportunity for all those involved. Malcolm Williams of Fearnhill School and I have spent 10 months planning the Festival and from what I have seen and heard it has been worth every minute.”
Jed Whelan, Headteacher of Fearnhill School, Mathematics & Computing College, said: “The Festival has been a tremendous success. It illustrates the enthusiastic and creative way schools and our partner organisations are working together to provide a positive learning experience for the young people of Letchworth Garden City.”