Joe ‘The Rockstar’ Cullen is the latest darts Champion to join the PDC Bullseye programme and complete a darts Maths session held by Nottingham College’s Room 180 Academy.
The 2022 Masters Champ joined a group of Park Spring Primary School children last Wednesday, before making what would be his homecoming appearance in Premier League in front of his home crowd in Leeds.
The PDC launched Bullseye Maths earlier this year as an initiative to encourage maths development in Key Stage 2 children, with in-school sessions accompanied by an online portal.
The hour-long Bullseye Maths sessions, led by Gary Horsley from Nottingham College’s Room 180 Academy, see children introduced to darts and provide an innovative way of enhancing their numeracy skills while playing the sport.
“The kids were superb and it’s a good way to learn maths,” said Cullen. “You’re seeing a lot of kids now getting into darts and learning to play, and especially at this age it’s great for the kids to be able to make learning more fun.
“Maths came pretty naturally to me but it’s not that way for everyone. Darts is a great sport for kids to learn maths and I’m seeing that now with my own children.”
Catherine Houghton, Early Years Leader at Park Spring Primary School, said: “This has been a really fun way for the children to learn maths.
“It’s given them experience about another sport and they got to meet a sports star, as well as enjoying the Bullseye Maths session.
“Experiences like this help to raise childrens’ aspirations for the future as well as improving their maths skills and love of learning.”
Gary Horsley, from Nottingham College’s Room 180 Academy, led the session and said: “There’s been a great response to Bullseye Maths in the last two months and this was another really fun session.
“Our previous visits have been in schools but it was lovely for the children to experience another environment for this session at the First Direct Arena.
“The children from Park Spring were really well behaved and performed brilliantly during the session, and it was great to see them so keen to be part of this session during their Easter holidays!”
The PDC’s online portal includes introduction videos from top PDC players, including Cullen, Michael Smith, Gary Anderson, referees Russ Bray and Kirk Bevins and Sky Sports presenter Laura Woods, as well as the interactive Mathlete darts game and downloadable worksheets for students.
For more details about the Room 180 Academy, please contact Gary Horsley via gary.horsley@nottinghamcollege.ac.uk.
