Maths confidence soars as three early years settings complete NDNA’s Maths Champions programme
National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) is proud to celebrate three early years settings that have successfully completed the Maths Champions programme this year:
Thornhill Community Pre-school, Best Friends Day Nursery Chester and Appletree Corner Daycare and Pre-school.
The Maths Champions programme continues to demonstrate its impact in supporting early years practitioners to build confidence, deepen subject knowledge, and embed meaningful mathematical learning across everyday provision.
Transforming staff confidence and culture
At Thornhill Community Pre-school, the programme has had a powerful impact on both confidence and mindset across the team. Staff shared:
“The team are much more confident and vocal. Those team members who once said maths scared them don’t shy away from maths activities, while those who said maths was the strong point now have a deeper understanding of what maths looks like in early years education.
When maths is mentioned, the approach and outlook is positive, which is reflected in the setting and the children.
Due to the positivity of the team, the children have a proactive approach to mathematical learning.”
This reflection highlights how the programme helps shift attitudes towards mathematics while creating a shared positive language around early maths learning.
As practitioner confidence has grown, children’s engagement and willingness to explore mathematical ideas have also increased.
Strengthening practice for lasting impact
Best Friends Day Nursery Chester also reported significant benefits from completing the programme:
“Maths Champions has given us the confidence to implement more maths in the early years which is incredibly important and we are beyond proud of the children and their achievements throughout the programme.
This program has given us the skills to keep improving our provisions for the benefit of the children and ourselves.”
Their experience reflects the long-term value of the programme, supporting immediate improvements in practice while also equipping teams with knowledge and strategies to continue developing high quality early maths provision.
Transforming confidence and professional development
At Appletree Corner Daycare and Pre-school, the programme was described as professionally enriching and valuable for staff development.
One practitioner explained:
“For myself as Deputy Maths Champion, alongside the Maths Champion Lead, this programme has been extremely valuable and professionally enriching.
It has provided access to a wide range of high-quality CPD opportunities, opening up new training pathways and significantly increasing both our confidence and subject knowledge.
Through the programme, we have developed a much deeper understanding of how to embed mathematics meaningfully within the environment and everyday provision.
We are now more confident in evaluating resources, identifying gaps, and ensuring that daily routines and play opportunities are intentionally maths focused both inside and outside the setting.”
This feedback demonstrates how the Maths Champions programme supports practitioner development, strengthens pedagogical understanding, and promotes intentional mathematical learning within early years environments.
Supporting high quality early maths provision
The Maths Champions programme is designed to help early years practitioners embed mathematics into daily interactions, routines and play-based learning.
By strengthening staff confidence and subject knowledge, the programme helps create rich mathematical environments where children can explore, experiment and develop strong foundations for future learning.
National Day Nurseries Association congratulates Thornhill Community Pre-school, Best Friends Day Nursery Chester and Appletree Corner Daycare and Pre-school on their achievements in completing the Maths Champions programme and supporting excellence in early maths education.
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