Now maths lessons add up for Bath pupils, thanks to a local housebuilder
Pupils at a school near Bath are among the first to benefit from an innovative approach to teaching mathematics, with support from the housebuilder constructing new homes in their village.
Cotswold Homes Ltd – which is building six brand new bespoke country houses at Freshford Fields in a rural hillside hamlet on the edge of the Somerset village of Freshford in the Avon Valley – has donated to Freshford Church of England Primary School specialist teaching resources used by maths teachers in China and Singapore.
Highly successful with schoolchildren in Shanghai, the approach entails use of colour-coded counters to make learning fun, active and memorable.
‘The Cotswold Homes’ donation will have a significant impact on the children’s understanding of arithmetic’ reports head teacher Andrew Wishart.
He added: ‘Mastery of maths, which should build gradually as a child goes through school, is a tool for life, and immeasurably more valuable than the short term ability to answer questions in tests or exams.’
The head of sales and marketing at Cotswold Homes, Terri Hayes-Pugh, says that sponsoring maths is appropriate for a housebuilder: ‘It features in every aspect of our design, construction and sales,’ she explained.
‘With two of the homes at Freshford Fields already reserved by buyers, it is not too difficult to calculate that there are now only four still available to buy.’
She added: ‘Buyers have been struck by the way in which we have designed these homes to combine the character and spaciousness of an earlier age with modern practicalities and efficiencies.’
Every property has a unique bespoke design created to maximise use of the versatile living space. It is planned so that it can be adapted to meet the changing needs of today’s modern families as well as the growing trend to work from home.
Pictured with Terri Hayes-Pugh of Cotswold Homes are Freshford Church of England Primary School pupils (left to right) Benjamin, Sahara, Stan, Hugh and Jon using the innovative new maths teaching equipment sponsored by the housebuilder.