Stratford Primary School staff set challenges for pupils during lockdown

Stratford Primary School pupil Sam Needham is enjoying the challenges. Photo/ Supplied.

Television personalities, international sports players and local heroes have been asking school pupils maths questions for distance learning.

Last week Patrick Gower, Hillary Barry, Beauden Barrett and Stratford mayor Neil Volzke were some of the people who asked the kids maths questions.

The clips were made into videos which were posted to the Stratford Primary School Facebook page.

For the first three weeks of lockdown, daily creative challenges were posted to the page. Last week, the pupils were challenged to answer maths questions.

Stratford Primary School pupil Sam Needham created the word happy for one of the challenges. Photo/ Supplied.

Deputy principal Aaron Moore says he is overwhelmed by the response.

"You don't know what you will get until you ask. We are so appreciative of those who have helped."

Aaron says staff messaged a number of people asking for help.

"Staff had connections with some of the people but we mostly sent out messages asking if they'd be interested. One of the staff messaged Hillary Barry on Instagram asking if she would be interested and Hillary said she would love to."

Aaron says the pupils send through their answers to his email.

"We've had a lot of engagement, even from pupils from other schools. It's awesome that other school communities are getting involved."

He says the aim of the challenges and the regular updates by staff are to put a smile on people's faces during a stressful situation.

"We've tried to do something for everyone. We want to keep pupils motivated and engaged."

Stratford mayor Neil Volzke says when Aaron contacted him and asked him to read a couple of maths questions for the school's online math challenge, he didn't hesitate.

"But I had no idea that he had lined up all these sports stars and the likes to ask questions, so I was surprised to be among such illustrious company.

"I thought the idea of guests asking the questions was innovative and would capture the imagination of students. It's a great example of teachers doing that bit extra to make education interesting for the kids."

Aaron says new challenges will be posted during Alert Level Three.

"We've tried to do something the whole way through and we will continue to do that. The response from the pupils has been awesome."