Maths Grants 2022

In 2022 the Jo Walters Trust awarded £2,685 in grants to various organisations across the UK to help further the teaching of maths. This money has been allocated as grants to the following projects and organisations: 

• Aberdeen Science Centre: £900 to provide ‘Magic Maths’ Loan Boxes which are a fantastic way of getting children and adults excited about maths at home. The aim is to increase STEM knowledge, with a particular focus on maths, by creating engaging and exciting activities which also boost social skills. Loan boxes are made as accessible as possible by offering them free of charge to borrow for up to two weeks and can be used by individuals and families, schools or community groups from across Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Moray and Highlands. The loan box will include an activity pack and materials including dice, cards and puzzles, to guide participants through maths-based challenges and inspire them to explore more through games and magic tricks.

• Inverness Caledonian Thistle Community Development:£930: building on the success of their 4 year project of combining literacy development with football to inspire primary school children in reading and writing, Inverness Caledonian Thistle will use the grant to do the same with maths. They plan to work with up to 60 children at risk of disengaging with mathematics who have an interest in football using football scenarios for maths, such as how much time is left on a clock or working out costs for buying players etc. 

• Fivmiletown Primary School & Nursery: £855. In response to a parental questionnaire this grant will provide support to parents to help young children with maths skills in nursery and primary one. They will further develop joint outdoor play sessions and introduce ‘Maths Mornings’ once a week throughout the calendar year with these classes with a variety of outdoor maths stations that would promote sorting & classifying; exploring number; shape, space and measure; and problem-solving activities which promote maths thinking skills. Parents will be invited to different maths events each term including an introduction to the ‘Maths Mornings’ with a stay and play in Term 1, a parental workshop on ‘Promoting Maths through Play’ in Term 2 and a trip to the local forest for a ‘Maths Trail’ in Term 3. 

2022 Aberdeenshire Grant Awards

In response to our call for applications, we're pleased to announce that we have offered to support the following projects with £6,140 in grants in 2022 to facilitate their outdoor education plans:

• Tullynessle School, £200 to help them update their 20 year old playground. In discussion with pupils they have worked out a wish list and the JWT grant will contribute towards buying some of this outdoor kit, including a trim trail, literacy shed, seating and a covered area for both the primary and nursery children. 

• Carronhill School SCO33260, £1,880: Carronhill is a special school in Stonehaven with an allotment which they would like to make allotment accessible for all their students with raised planters and a new shed and to make it all accessible to those who need help to walk and who are wheelchair users. The allotment is part of the Stonehaven Allotment Association and the people there already give their time and support to Carronhill. Increasing interaction with the school and the community is vital for inclusion and also very important to the volunteers helping, especially after Covid when many of the volunteers didn't see anyone

• Aboyne Academy Climbing Club, £1,360 to replace their equipment to continue extra curricular climbing activities. The extra-curricular climbing club has operated successfully for the past five years, staffed by volunteer school teachers holding SPA and RCI qualifications. They run indoor climbing sessions once a week during term-time, take groups of pupils outdoor climbing at Aberdeenshire crags, and encourage novices to give the sport a try at school sports days, activity weeks and other events. Having already raised money towards replacing climbing ropes they now require support to replace the remainder of their expiring equipment. 

• Tough Primary School, £200: to help with their mission to buy a trolley and shed for their forest school equipment. Over the last few years, becoming more confident in using the outdoors for learning and finding the forest schools sessions rewarding, the school has gathered together some equipment for their forest schools and now need somewhere to store this appropriately and a trolley to be able to transport the equipment. The grant from the JWT will help wtih this. 

• Mill o' Forest Primary, £1,500 to buy forest school equipment for this primary school with an enhanced provision unit and a nurture hub in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire. Developing their outdoor learning provision they have already trained a teacher as a Woodland Activity Leader, with a conversion to Coastal Activity Leader and are also recruiting a Nature Nurture Practitioner. The funding from the JWT will allow them to purchase sufficient equipment suitable to deliver outdoor learning in the local woodland and beach to all year groups in blocks of weekly lessons. The equipment includes fire lighting and cooking equipment, a cart, shelters, tools, clothing etc to supplement the donations of equipment they already have. 

• The Seed Box: £1000, The Seed Box is a charity based in the Walled Garden at Ballogie, near Aboyne, and provides a day service with meaningful work related activities for adults and children with additional needs who are presently unable to work in mainstream employment. They encourage independence and social rehabilitation as well as life skills training to enable service users to move on to employment, sheltered or otherwise. They are now starting to outgrow this site and so are looking to develop a new site near Banchory to enable them to increase the number of people with whom they work. The Jo Walters Trust grant will be a contribution towards their larger goal and will pay for hedging for the new site at the Lochton of Ley