Magical maths after school club

[SunnyKoala]

Has anyone had experience of this please? They came into my son's class to do a demo and he really wants to do it. But it's aimed at years 1-6, no staff pupil ratios published, no sample materials, a franchise and I can't see any teaching or maths degree requirements for franchisees.....

They haven't answered my email and tbh it annoys me when schools let businesses in to advertise to children who are then just sitting ducks. If someone says their child has done it and it's brilliant then I'd choke my distaste down.

Is it just maths on a computer? I’ve been teaching for 20 years, every year from 1-6, and unless it’s just kids sorting on a computer, I’d say it was impossible to teach kids from years 1-6 effectively in one group, keeping each kid stretched and learning.

I've seen it's at a few schools and they tend to split into two groups ks1 and ks2 for the after school club. It's good for developing confidence in using maths knowledge in a fun and practical way although like many franchises it depends on who you get running it. If he wants to try it I wouldn't see any harm in letting him go. They only usually run for a half a term so approximately 6 weeks.

Mine did it, I wasn’t massively impressed although it made a change after school for a few weeks, they would have been in after school club anyway. They just do a little activity or puzzle each time. The KS2 ones were better than KS1, but still not well explained I thought. For example they have those puzzles where you think of a number, do various thing to it, and always end up with (say) 4 - but no one seems to have explained to them WHY this works, which they could definitely understand when I explained it.

I am a maths geek and my kids are very good at maths so I was hoping it would be fun NRich style stuff but it wasn’t really. I’m sure it depends on the particular person delivering it though.

Thanks everyone. Yes, I'm maths teacher trained too so probably a bit pickier than I otherwise would be.

When they came into school they didn't seem to show why it works either. Even the guy who founded it only seems to have joint honours in maths from somewhere mediocre including a module in maths in schools. I've got more than that myself and I wouldn't presume to start this kind of business nationally. You have to pay for 11 weeks, they don't seem upfront and I don't like businesses coming into schools to treat the kids as sitting ducks for advertising. I feel better about steering clear now.