For National Numeracy Day on Wednesday 22 May, the PDC teamed up with charity National Numeracy and partner Moneybarn ahead of the Premier League Play-Offs. The children met World Champion Luke Humphries, and teenage sensation Luke Littler.
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Luke Humphries and Luke Littler inspire children with maths and darts for National Numeracy Day
23 May 2024
Children from Invicta Primary School in London spent their National Numeracy Day building both their darts and number skills, thanks to the Professional Darts Corporation’s award-winning Bullseye Maths programme at the O2 – and some very special guests!
The perfect pair: maths and darts
National Numeracy Day is the UK’s only day dedicated to everyday maths. It aims to inspire everyone to have the confidence and skills to work with, and understand numbers, so they can get on in life – and darts!
The day saw the two darts stars share their own experiences through a ‘My Maths Story’ session, which National Numeracy deliver in schools across the country via their volunteering programme.
The stars also posted videos for The Big Number Natter – the campaign’s initiative which aims to get people talking comfortably about how they feel about maths. Love it or loathe it, we all have something to say!
The pupils then enjoyed a special Bullseye Maths session, which linked numeracy to the sport.
World number one, Luke Humphries, said: "It was brilliant to welcome the kids down for the Bullseye Maths visit today. I loved maths at school and playing darts definitely helped me in my school days, my mental maths was always very good because of it. It’s great for kids to be able to learn using darts, as it will definitely help their memory to learn quick maths."
World Youth Champion, Luke Littler, said: "Maths is something we use in everyday life and darts is no different. It's a really positive way to get kids involved in the subject and it was great to see the school come down today and experience the sport."
National Numeracy Chief Executive Sam Sims said: "Darts is a wonderful way for children, and adults, to connect to numeracy. As the two Lukes have shown, you don’t get better at darts overnight and it’s the same with maths; it takes practice, patience and the right support, but we can all improve. We might not all become World Champions, but we can all feel confident to deal with the numbers in our daily lives, for sport, work, home and school. One simple step for adults is to try the National Numeracy Challenge."
PDC Chief Executive Matt Porter said: “The ability of players to add, multiply and subtract in milliseconds during matches is something which people don’t always recognise because of the brilliant accuracy of their throwing, but it’s an incredibly important aspect of the sport and we’re delighted to be able to showcase that through Bullseye Maths and encourage numeracy at all ages.”
Vehicle finance company Moneybarn, part of Vanquis Banking Group, are a partner of the PDC and have been proud supporters of National Numeracy for seven years. Together, they aim to reach individuals with low number confidence up and down the UK.
Moneybarn Head of Marketing Tim Schwarz said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to bring together the tremendous work that both National Numeracy and Bullseye Maths do to promote number confidence in people of all ages. By supporting people to develop skills in maths, especially in fun ways such as playing darts, we can help build confidence in using numbers in everyday life.
“I feel incredibly proud of the role we play, as part of Vanquis Banking Group, in caring about the importance of numeracy as a way to help individuals and communities better cope with increasing uncertainty and change.”
Photography credit: Kieran Cleeves/PDC
Watch the videos from #NationalNumeracyDay
The PDC, Luke Littler and Luke Humphries helped to spread the word across social media. Watch the clips here:
See Luke Humphries' thoughts on why numbers are important on Facebook
See Luke Littler give his support for National Numeracy Day on Instagram
Free resources for children across the UK
For National Numeracy Day 2024, National Numeracy has its biggest ever programme for children, spanning all ages. The charity's celebrity ambassadors have created a range of free, helpful tips and resources to help you and your children feel more confident using numbers in everyday life.
They can dance with Strictly’s Katya Jones and BBC CBeebies Numberblocks, have a rap and poetry slam with Harry Baker and the Times Table Rock Stars and Numbots, or bake along with Bake Off winner Peter Sawkins.
And there's a drawing competition with prize bundles worth over £1,000 up for grabs. All children need to do is create a picture showing how they'll use numbers when they grow up – maybe they want to be a darts player?
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, in your own time and at your own pace.
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.
