UNIVERSITY students are known for their love of the television quiz show Countdown and now teachers at a secondary school are promoting the show to their pupils.

Maths teachers at Kearsley Academy cannot get enough of the show and recently appeared in the audience to see if they could beat the clock.

Kim McKee, head of maths at the school, is an author for BBC Bitesize Mathematics and because of her links to MediaCity, she was offered tickets to be part of the Manchester audience.

She said: “Going to watch Countdown and publicising this with our students helps them to see that mathematics and problem solving is all around us, even on TV shows such as this, and it’s OK to be passionate about numbers!

“We have our own team name, The Sumundrums, a play on words, linking maths with the conundrum.”

She added: “Maths is so important to the lives of young people and we want to show that it can also be something to enjoy, even when presented with challenges.”

The teachers even got to meet Rachel Riley, one of the presenters.

Mrs McKee said: “We had a fantastic time and played every round. We got a few eight letters but we didn’t get the conundrum!” The school uses other games to show that maths is fun including giant suduko, rockstar maths challenges and teachers sharing their own difficulties with maths.

Mrs McKee said: “Hard work and team work is at the heart of all we do so our students will grow to love mathematics and problem solving.”