You can download these here by clicking on the link for each year.
Annual Reports
We partnered with 34 schools from the autumn term, with a further 6 joining in the new calendar year. Over 130 In-School Volunteers ran regular one-to-one sessions during the year, supporting over 360 children.
Our Head of Operations writes:
My key take-away from this year is the dedication of our volunteers and how they go above and beyond in their creativity and care for the children they support – getting to know each one and tailoring activities to their needs and interests or even creating and making their own games. This has been reflected in the wonderful comments from teachers in our evaluation of impact survey, reflecting volunteers’ support and encouragement and how this has benefited the children we support. I am really proud of our team of volunteers and that we attract people from across our local communities from diverse backgrounds. Our youngest volunteers are ‘A’ Level students while our oldest was 80 this year.
This year our In-School Volunteers ran weekly one-to-one sessions for over 330 children in state-run primary schools, helping the children to grow their confidence and improve their skills in maths. We are delighted that teachers’ evaluations continue to show strong evidence of the benefits of our intervention.
Some of the qualitative feedback we received:
‘A great asset to our school and is really making a difference to the children. Thank you!’
Partner school, Haringey
‘[The volunteer] has been amazing, very patient and explains every topic clearly with practical examples. The children loved her fun sessions!’
Partner school, Southwark
‘[The child] loved the sessions with [the volunteer]. He was engaged and is proud of his achievements.’
Partner school, Westminster
We reached an important milestone this year with the permanent appointment of Lorraine Gerrard as our Head of Operations; this is a first step towards making the charity sustainable when the founding trustees move on.
Number Champions has helped over 250 children this year to improve their skills and grow their confidence in maths. About 100 In-School Volunteers have run weekly one-to-one sessions in 29 primary schools across London, with the ultimate goal of helping children achieve their educational potential.
We are delighted that teachers’ evaluations continue to show strong evidence of the benefits of our intervention.
Some of the feedback we received:
‘This scheme has increased the children’s confidence and love of maths and provided them with a “can do” attitude.’
Partner School, Barnet
‘I have had multiple children working with the volunteers and all of them have made massive progress. Some children are still WTS [working towards expected standard] but the gap in their knowledge has narrowed significantly.’
Partner School, Brent
We are delighted to be back on track after the worst of the pandemic. This has been made possible through the commitment of our volunteers and the trust which schools have placed in us. We have partnered with 25 schools this year, compared with 8 last year, and our volunteers have supported over 240 children.
At the end of the school year, we asked teachers to evaluate the progress of the children our volunteers worked with. 89% of children showed a measurable increase in confidence and 78% showed a measurable catch-up in attainment with the rest of the class.
Some of the feedback we received:
‘D– enjoyed the sessions. His maths has come on really well this year and he is now meeting age-expectations. Thank you for working with him.’
Partner School, Islington
‘C– really struggles with confidence across all areas of the curriculum. Since starting Number Champions, she has become much more confident in working with partners and independently.’
Partner School, Brent
‘L– has enjoyed his sessions, regularly asking me when the next one is going to be. He particularly enjoys playing maths games, which have increased his engagement and interest in maths. He scored higher than expected in his recent SATs exams.’
Partner School, Westminster
Schools worked heroically under immense difficulty this year to support their students. However, as a result of the disruptions from Covid-19, children fell behind in their learning, with those from disadvantaged backgrounds being worst impacted. Our work was, therefore, all the more important. Many schools did not allow non-staff members on their premises this year so we were delighted that we were nevertheless welcomed into eight schools – all of which have renewed their contracts with us for next year.
Some of the feedback we received:
‘Thank you to the amazing volunteers who come to our school and all schools. The children really benefit from your time and input!’
Drayton Park School, Islington
‘Thank you and your team for the work that you do with our pupils. I am sure that the impact they had will be with those children throughout their schooling.’
Maths Lead, Barnet
In our second year of operation, we were able to double the number of schools we partnered with and so to help many more children.
Some of the feedback we received:
‘Thank you, Number Champions for being part of the team at Worcesters. Your volunteers took the time to find out from the teachers what the pupils needed to work on and gave regular feedback. The children really looked forward to their weekly one-to-one sessions with the volunteers. All the teachers reported an increase in confidence in the children’s approach to maths.’
Alison Martin, Associate Headteacher, Attigo Academy Trust, Enfield
‘Number Champions has made a real difference to our school – having knowledgeable, committed volunteers coming in and supporting these children regularly has been brilliant.’
Holly Kingham, Maths Lead, Fleet Primary, Camden
At the end of our first year of operation, the class teachers of the children we worked with evaluated their progress.
With an over 90% response rate, the evaluations were very positive:
20% of children were progressing ‘very much better’ and 40% ‘noticeably better’ than their peers.
This is particularly encouraging as the children were chosen specifically because they were previously progressing less well than their classmates.