Number Confidence Week toolkit for schools
Welcome to the Number Confidence Week team!
From 2-8 November we want schools across the UK to join in and build confidence with numbers among staff and children. This year the theme is ‘Count on Your Community’, to help create spaces where everyone can talk openly about numbers, feel safe making mistakes, and take steps together to build their confidence.
Check back for more updates, and together let's unlock new opportunities for everyone!
Below, you’ll find:
(click on the name of each section to jump down the page)
• Getting involved
• Resources
• Promotional materials and text templates
• Our social handles
• The National Numeracy Challenge
Getting involved
There are loads of ways your school can get involved with Number Confidence Week, helping children feel positive about numbers and recognise the maths they already use every day.
1. Bring Number Confidence Week into the classroom
Use our free activities and resources to help pupils explore numbers in fun, engaging and relatable ways.
Number Confidence Week is a chance to show children that maths isn't just something that happens in a maths lesson – numbers are everywhere, from sport, music and gaming to shopping, cooking, travel and the things they enjoy doing every day.
Choose the activities that work best for your pupils, year groups and timetable. You could dedicate a lesson to number confidence, use an activity as a starter or bring the whole school together for Number Confidence Week.
Explore the free school resources and activities
2. The Big Number Natter
Get pupils talking about how numbers make them feel with a Big Number Natter.
The Big Number Natter is a friendly, informal conversation about numbers and maths. Use our specially designed resources to get children talking about their experiences, the maths they use in everyday life and what helps them feel more confident.
You could hold a Natter as a whole class, in small groups or as part of an assembly. You can also encourage staff and families to join the conversation, helping to create a positive culture around maths across your whole school community.
Get your Big Number Natter resources
3. Get families involved
Positive conversations about numbers don't have to stop at the school gates.
Share our Number Confidence Week resources with parents and carers and encourage families to explore the numbers they use together at home. From cooking and shopping to journeys, games and planning their day, there are loads of opportunities to show children how useful numbers are outside the classroom.
You can share activities through your school newsletter, website, parent communications and social channels.
Explore the free school resources and activities
4. Spread the word and invite others
Help us get even more children feeling positive about numbers by encouraging other nurseries, schools and children's organisations in your network to join Number Confidence Week.
Everyone who signs up will receive free resources and activities designed to help children build a positive relationship with numbers.
You can also celebrate what your own school is doing through newsletters, your website and social media.
Use these materials and text templates
5. Support staff number confidence
The way adults talk about maths can have a powerful impact on children.
Number Confidence Week is a great opportunity to start conversations among teachers and school staff too. Encourage colleagues to think about their own experiences of maths and the language they use around numbers, and help create an environment where everyone feels able to say, "I can give it a go."
Staff can also explore their own number confidence using the free National Numeracy Challenge.
The Big Number Natter for all ages
This activity is a way of sharing how we feel when it comes to maths and numbers. For those who struggle, this is a great first step towards feeling more confident. You can do this in small groups or whole classes, with students or staff, and they can be as formal or informal as you like.
Use our simple guide to plan your session, and the talking points to get conversations flowing. You can also use our video to kick off the session.
How to talk to young people about financial confidence for ages 11-14
Numeracy skills are a vital part of financial confidence. We want pupils to know that understanding numbers will be important for managing their own money in the future.
By talking about everyday maths in simple, practical ways, we can help pupils see how useful numeracy will be in their future lives, and how it will help them with their finances.
Maths at home – talking about numbers together: 3 November, 7pm for ages 5-13
A free webinar for parents, carers and teachers of children aged 5-13
You don’t need to be confident at maths to help your child develop a love of numbers.
Join Liz and Charlie from NRICH for a relaxed and friendly webinar exploring how engaging activities and everyday conversations can help children develop positive attitudes towards maths.
You’ll discover that tapping into children's curiosity through play and discussion can lead to mathematical conversations that every parent or carer can have, regardless of their own maths experience.
Whether you love maths or avoid it, this webinar will be packed with practical ways to support your child’s confidence with numbers. No maths expertise is needed. Just bring a willingness to have a go!
Would you like a volunteer to come to your school and deliver an assembly or class for Number Confidence Week?
Our corporate volunteers come to schools to share their experiences through our ‘My Maths Story’ assembly and/or our ‘Maths in the Real World’ interactive class lesson. It's a great way of raising the profile of maths in your school and helping children see its value, and why they learn it. Why not host a volunteer for Number Confidence Week?
Promotional materials
Try the National Numeracy Challenge
However you feel about maths, you’re not alone. The National Numeracy Challenge is a free and easy-to-use website you can use to improve your confidence with numbers.
It’s ideal for brushing up, checking your level, or for catching up on learning you missed, and it’s all about the maths you need in daily life and at work – no algebra or trigonometry.
Use #NumberConfidenceWeek and tag us so we can share your messages! Find us on:
If you have any questions please get in touch at enquiries@nationalnumeracy.org.uk. We hope you will join us this November!