Hallam Primary School’s Grade 5 and 6 cohort has become bona fide maths rock stars after being announced as the official winners of an online maths competition held in Victoria last month.
Designed by Australian maths education platform Maths Circle, the ‘Melbourne Rocks’ maths competition challenged primary school students from 50 schools across Victoria to showcase their times table skills in a unique online competition.
The competition used the app and online learning platform Times Tables Rock Stars to engage children with learning of times tables and increase their confidence and proficiency in maths.
Hallam Primary School Grade 5 and 6 team leader Deb Nield said the kids were already excited to participate again next year.
“It’s not easy to get them into a routine of practising but the Times Tables Rock Stars really helped because it’s fun, they love being on devices and it works,” she said.
“It’s something we’ll do again,” she said.
Ms Nield said the school encouraged diversity in all aspects of learning.
“We have a very inclusive community here with 40 languages in the school,” she said.
“We cater to refugee families, very well-off families, and disadvantaged families.”
Ms Nield said the competition helped to unite the school community.
“As a school community, we don’t see the kids as culturally different, and we hope the kids don’t either,” she said.
“Melbourne Rocks has helped us show this around mathematics and learning times tables.
“It made it really equitable and showed the community that we’re all the same.”
Former maths teacher and Maths Circle chief executive Bruno Reddy said Hallam Primary School was a standout performer from the beginning.
“As the competition began to unfold, my team and I were fascinated by the outstanding performance of Hallam Primary; they led the field from the beginning and are to be congratulated for their excellent results,” he said.
“Staff at Hallam Primary have told us they could hear the kids’ enthusiasm for the competition from other rooms,” he said.
“They could hear them pumping the music and screaming excitedly when competing.
“They’ve also told us that when they walked through the buildings, they could see everyone was engaged with what was taking place.”
