How we have helped to close the attainment gap in Middlesbrough

Life Ninja has been running the ‘Middlesbrough Mega Maths Competition’ since March 2021. The competition is free to all Middlesbrough schools and finishes on 28th May 2021. Our aim is to help close the attainment gap in the area and by releasing Zap Maths to all pupils. We have been overwhelmed with the amount of maths games students have played! One pupil played over 2,000 games, which is amazing.

According to the Tees Valley Economic Assessment, 25% of pupils in Key Stage 1 are not meeting the expected level in reading, writing, maths and science, this is compared to 15% nationally. We have been working with schools in the area to improve the attainment of pupils. Over twenty schools in the area have become involved in the competition, with hundreds of pupils playing maths games on a daily basis. This is in addition to their learning within school and is going to have a huge impact on closing the gap in the area as a result of the pandemic.

The attainment of students in the area is so important to us at Life Ninja, we have decided to offer Zap Maths free to all pupils in Middlesbrough for an additional three months until the end of this academic year.

What is next for us? Our aim is to have helped 1 million students by 2025, so with this in mind, we are hoping to receive some funding to enable us to make the Life Ninja Network available to all Tees Valley schools for free for two years! This will not only help us to achieve our goal, but also means we can do something positive for the area. There are almost 67,000 students studying in primary schools in Tees Valley, using the Life Ninja Network which includes both Zap Maths and Zap English, will help children to accelerate their learning therefore closing the attainment gap.

Find out more about Life Ninja here