Celebrate National Numeracy Day with Amazon

Now in its fifth year, National Numeracy Day celebrates the importance of numbers for adults and children, raising awareness of the importance of numeracy and inspiring people to improve their skills.

Numeracy levels in the UK are significantly below the average for developed countries, with 49% of the working-age population having the expected numeracy levels of a primary school child. Poor numeracy costs the UK economy £25 billion a year, while struggling with numbers can make people more vulnerable to debt, unemployment, poor health and fraud – all of which have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 crisis and now, the cost-of-living crisis.

"We are thrilled to be a lead supporter for National Numeracy Day again this year,” said Priyanka Wadhawan, National Numeracy Day Lead at Amazon.

“We understand that numeracy is more important than ever before, especially in providing more opportunities and access to exciting careers. Numeracy is a key aspect of our work at Amazon, from our colleagues in fulfilment centres who ensure customers receive their orders, to machine learning and AI roles. Helping to build these skills in the UK is part of our long-term commitment to give young people more opportunities, regardless of their background.”

Here are five ways to join in with National Numeracy Day this year, test your maths skills and build new ones!

National Numeracy Day has so far helped over 190,000 people take steps to improve their numeracy, partly through the National Numeracy Challenge.

The National Numeracy Challenge is an online tool that builds numeracy skills and confidence, with over 300 everyday maths questions and tutorials, multimedia resources and technology that adapts to individual learning levels.

Assess your maths skills in just 10 minutes and take the National Numeracy Challenge.

This year National Numeracy Day are hosting the first ever nationwide conversation about numbers. Whether you love it or avoid it, everyone has something to say about maths! The aim is to make the subject a little less scary and as a first step towards improving numeracy.

Topics to talk about in the Big Number Natter include the story behind your lucky number, tips for bagging a bargain, calculations for careers and how to help kids with homework. Celebrities, experts and people across the UK will be sharing their own number stories on social media.

Use the hashtag #BigNumberNatter and get talking about what numbers mean to you this #NationalNumeracyDay. For more information on what’s going on and how to get involved visit the National Numeracy Day webpage.

From Monday 16^th May – Friday 20^th May this year, ask “Alexa, what have you learnt?”  to hear more about National Numeracy Day this year. Alexa users can discover more about the day by asking:

• Alexa, when is National Numeracy Day?
  
• Alexa, what is National Numeracy Day?
  
• Alexa, how can I improve my maths skills?
  

Have even more maths related fun with Alexa by saying:

• Alexa, tell me a maths joke
  
• Alexa, Rap about pi

The National Numeracy Day website has two online hubs, one for adults and one for children. The hubs are packed with free resources and inspiration to get people feeling good about numbers.

Visit the Children’s Numeracy Hub to take part in a nationwide GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS® Official Attempt for the biggest ever number roll, enter the Number Heroes Competition for a chance to win big and join National Numeracy Day ambassadors for baking, rapping, money-saving and dancing activities.

Grownups can find expert advice on the Adult’s Numeracy Hub on how to talk about numbers more confidently, resources designed to ease maths anxiety and to strengthen maths skills.

Visit the Numeracy Hubs for fun and free numeracy resources.

Join the 4,000+ Champion Organisations taking part in National Numeracy Day. Sign your school, community group or organisation up to become a National Numeracy Day Champion and help get the people you teach, support or work with feeling number confident!

For adults in community groups or organisations, Champions are equipped to offer videos and downloadable resources to boost number confidence and take part in events.

Champion schools receive a free digital pack of resources and inspiration to run activities for their children, families and staff. These include the Rocking and Rolling Numbers Live event, a fun times table song with dance moves and the Number Heroes competition where your school can win one of five bundles of numeracy prizes worth at least £1000.

Sign up to become a National Numeracy Day Champion for your school or for your organisation.

Amazon is committed to supporting the development of skills in young people in the UK so they can access exciting and fulfilling careers. As part of this, we have created various initiatives and programmes tailored to upskilling in STEM areas.

The Amazon Maths4All storefront was created to help primary and secondary school children learn to love and excel at maths. We worked with a host of experts, including academics at leading institutions to produce this collection of free online curriculum-linked resources that make developing numeracy skills enjoyable and accessible.

Amazon Future Engineer is our comprehensive childhood-to-career programme that offers children and young adults the opportunity to get involved in STEM-related activities, training, and apprenticeships. The programme is designed to inspire, educate, and equip individuals with the tools they need to become the inventors, innovators, and engineers of tomorrow. The recently expanded Amazon Future Engineer bursary scheme also helps to create more opportunities for women to study STEM subjects in higher education.

This year, we expanded our apprenticeship programme with the addition of 1,500 new full-time positions across the UK in 2022, including over 200 degree-level apprenticeships.

A new initiative being launched by the government called the Multiply Programme is also designed to help adults across the UK access support to improve their numeracy skills. From free numeracy courses to online tutorials or personalised support, there will be lots of different options to choose from to brush up your maths skills at a time and place that suits you. You can find out more about the programme online.

We're delighted to support National Numeracy Day again this year and can't wait to see the nation engaging with National Numeracy's excellent resources, videos, and virtual programme.

Find out more about National Numeracy Day.