At St Pauls Way Primary, our morning challenge time continues to be a meaningful opportunity for pupils and parents to learn together. This week, we welcomed parents into school to take part in maths activities alongside their children, creating a calm and purposeful start to the day.

We dropped into challenge time with our Reception pupils, where learning was brought to life through creative and festive maths tasks. Children were busy cutting out shapes to form Christmas themed items such as angels and Christmas trees, helping them recognise and explore different shapes in a hands on way.

They also used number squares to create a Numicon Christmas tree, carefully matching each piece to the correct shape on the stencil. This activity supported number recognition and visual understanding while encouraging careful thinking and problem solving.

Another popular activity saw children making baubles for a Christmas tree by cutting out shapes and comparing their sizes. They explored more than and less than through Christmas themed equations, developing early mathematical language and confidence.

Parents also help their child practice making compositions of numbers from 2 - 5, using practical resources to deepen their understanding of how numbers can be combined in different ways.

Parents and carers played an important role throughout this session, supporting their children, asking questions and celebrating successes together. These shared learning moments help strengthen the partnership between home and school and show children that learning is valued both in and out of the classroom.

Challenge time strongly reflects one of our school values, Community. By learning together and supporting one another, pupils, parents and staff build positive relationships that help every child feel confident, included and ready to succeed.