Free maths stuff: School No 1 gets its reward in our maths giveaway

Sunday Mirror, Jan 9, 2000 by RUPERT HAMER

THESE are the first lucky school children to benefit from our marvellous Free Maths Stuff For Schools campaign.

Staff, parents and children from St John's Church of England Primary School in Worksop, Notts, have been busily collecting tokens since they joined the scheme in October.

And last week they swapped 1,590 of them for some of our super maths equipment.

The school now has two new magnetic white boards - each worth 795 tokens.

Teacher Linda Butterfield, who co-ordinates the collection of the tokens, said: "We are all over the moon.

"We can use these boards for both English and maths lessons.

"Because they are magnetic we can stick numbers on to them for the maths sessions. They are also easy to write on for the literacy lessons. They really make a big difference."

The school - which caters for 400 pupils between the ages of five to 11 - is now almost ready to swap another 2,000 tokens it has collected for other maths equipment on offer through the scheme.

Linda Butterfield, who teaches all subjects at the school, said: "The children love collecting the tokens - particularly those from the Sunday Mirror.

"I think the initiative is a wonderful idea. It means we can get so much more equipment which the normal school budget would not cater for.

"That means we can provide better and more interesting lessons for the children."

Our Free Maths Stuff For Schools campaign began in October and has been a huge success. The majority of schools in Britain have now joined up and, like St John's, will soon be feeling the benefits.

Schools can collect tokens available in the Sunday Mirror, The Mirror, the Sunday People, and on McVitie's cakes and biscuits and KP snacks, including Hula Hoops and Skips, then exchange them for a host of maths equipment ranging from computers to protractors.

A team of stars have also lined up to cheer us on, including swimming champion Sharron Davies, TV gardening star Charlie Dimmock and heroine teacher Lisa Potts.

Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown, TV's Carol Vorderman and Jonathan Ross are also supporting our great campaign.