Our story
The FunKey story started in earnest in Maggie’s first ever class. As a new teacher in a primary school in Bristol, she discovered six-year-olds who were already scared of maths. Maggie was horrified as she thinks playing around with numbers can be a lot of fun, and six is far too young to write yourself off as rubbish at maths. Besides, no-one should ever do that!
So Maggie quickly started experimenting with ideas to lift the fear and stop the tears. This involved inventing a whole host of games and other fun activities.
With the new approach, the children started to relax in maths lessons, and then to thrive. Since then, Maggie has never really stopped trying to find fun-loving ways to engage children in maths.
With charitable funding and support from Jesse Norman MP and then Nesta’s Maths Mission, the ideas have gradually grown into something that can benefit children in every school.
Maggie
Teacher
I’ve been a qualified teacher for over 20 years. Long before qualifying, I was helping my kid brother with his maths homework and forcing my best friend Moyra to play maths games with me. Sorry Moyra!
I’ve taught maths in primary and secondary schools. What happens in the classroom defines mindsets for life. It really matters that we are engendering a love of maths in every child, not scaring anyone away, and not just getting kids through tests.
Maths could be done in a different way, and we owe it to children to do it in a joyous way.
Monika
Designer
I’m a designer with a passion for creating outstanding user experiences for adults and for children. I’m particularly interested in how visual representation can improve learning for children, especially those for whom maths does not come easily.
I’m a lifelong learner myself and my times tables have definitely improved on this journey! I have really enjoyed working with children on this project, especially my niece who is now a whizz at her times tables. We adults can learn so much from children, if only we open our eyes!
Monty
Director of team well-being
Monty is an inspirational member of the team. His Zen approach to life reminds the whole team that life should be good. His work ethic is second to none. Monty has been working hard at his number sense and knows the difference between one dinner and two.
His motto is: more is better and he rejects the widely accepted mantra that less is more. He thinks that is very bad maths.
