St Colmcille's High School
enjoy some Murderous Maths at W5
St Colmcille's High School visited the award-winning W5 this week as part of the science and discovery centre’s 10th birthday celebrations and National Science Week. W5 teamed up with sponsor ESB Independent Energy to offer Year 8 pupils the opportunity to register to attend a sponsored Murderous Maths lecture by renowned author Kjartan Poskitt as part of W5’s 10th birthday celebrations!
The response by schools across the Province was overwhelming with over 70 different schools registering to take part and the lucky pupils joined over 600 Year 8s in W5’s Lecture Theatre where Murderous Mathematician Kjartan Poskitt entertained pupils and teachers alike with an hour of maths fun, sneaky tricks, games, jokes (most of which are repeatable) and all sorts of advice and tips on how to cope with maths in all its various forms. But what made this event different from traditional maths is that it was FUN. The stand-up maths routine had the audience in fits of laughter!
According to Dr Sally Montgomery Chief Executive of W5 “Maths is a crucial part of STEM and of everyday life. We need to change young people’s attitude to maths and show how fun it can be! With the continued support of forward-thinking organisations such as ESB Independent Energy, more young people can benefit from W5’s innovative and unique approach to learning. When you have fun it makes learning easier and doesn’t that add up?”
Susan Kinane, Managing Director of ESB Independent Energy added “W5 plays an important role in broadening the minds of children and helping them understand what can be complicated concepts in an entertaining and engaging manner. Encouraging an uptake in STEM subjects has been highlighted as a key element in our future economic success and ESBIE is delighted to support W5 in this area. This builds upon our existing support of STEM subjects, including ESBIE’s bursary partnership with Queen’s University which assists engineering students both financially and by providing practical experience opportunities. Having marked our 10th year in the Northern Ireland energy market last year I’d also like to commend W5 on the contribution it has made to the Northern Ireland community over the last 10 years.”
It is the variety and sheer entertainment of events like these that has earned W5 the title of Education Visitor Attraction of the Year in the first ever UK Theme Park & Visitor Attraction Awards.