Bullseye Maths Initiative

Woden’s Sports Councillors were part of the Premier League’s Primary Stars project with Wolves Foundation and enjoyed a taste of PDC (Professional Dart Corporation) which was taking place in the city. The children completed a session (Bullseye Maths Initiative) which combined the fun element of darts with practising their maths, as well as meeting top players Mike De Decker and Jermaine Wattimena, and Wolverhampton boxer Conah Walker.

The Bullseye Maths initiative promotes maths skills among young people via number-based games and worksheets. As well as joining in the fun games of darts, the pupils from Years Three to Six were also given maths puzzles to solve, including arithmetic involved in legs of darts.

“It has been an absolutely fantastic experience for the kids,” said Mr Ellis, PE Lead at Woden Primary.

“In the first instance, it gives them an exposure to sport and things they might not have known existed, and most of them will only have known about darts by searching about it at home after getting the letter. But the important thing is that link to maths, and we have been able to see them do their written maths and apply their learning to the tasks which they had to complete. It gives them the context which they can apply their learning to, and they have all really enjoyed it.”

The players also thoroughly enjoyed meeting the pupils and taking part in a few darts and maths-based challenges. De Decker, who last month won his first PDC tournament, the World Grand Prix, said: “It’s nice to see kids being interested in darts and, hopefully, some talents come out of this as it’s a fun thing to do. I hope we can inspire them as that’s why we’re here today and I hope that they love the game and will continue playing.”

Wattimena, who was recently the runner-up in the European Championships, added: “I think this initiative is great and I hope the kids have really enjoyed being here today. I hope they can learn a lot about maths and also learn how the sport works and I’d have loved to have this as a kid as there wasn’t anything like it when I was young.”