Who are Maths Circle?
Maths Circle creates maths learning programmes that directly tackle the issue of children failing to acquire basic numeracy and arithmetic skills needed to progress further in maths. Times Tables Rock Stars is an award-winning, carefully sequenced maths platform designed to improve times tables recall. Children are immersed in a fun-filled rock star world whilst practising their times tables to rock music. NumBots successfully combines enticing gamification with a maths mastery approach to teach children addition, subtraction and number bonds. In short, we make maths learning fun! Visit our website here.
Why we decided to apply for a Queen’s Award for Enterprise
Times Tables Rock Stars was created by a maths teacher ten years ago to solve the perennial problem of young people not knowing their times tables. It has since become a household name in the UK with over 15,000 schools, 30,000 families and over three million children now using it. Our innovation is an integral part of the success of our online products. Our sophisticated algorithms use artificial intelligence to tailor the questioning and learning to the child, adapting to their progress and building their confidence.
Aware of the profound impact that our innovation was having on children’s maths learning, our accountant recommended that we apply for a Queen’s Award. We knew that we had a good story to tell, so we hoped that we would be in with a chance.
What winning the Award has meant for our business and staff
We are all absolutely thrilled to have won a Queen’s Award. It is a very prestigious award and a real recognition of the positive impact that our products are having on maths attainment. Whilst we haven’t been able to celebrate yet in person, the whole team were delighted to hear the positive news (via a zoom call!), which was a welcome boost during what has been a difficult time during lockdown. We have been overwhelmed with all the positive messages that we have received from teachers, parents and other supporters who have congratulated us on our win. We can’t wait to have a big celebration when it is safe to do so!
How winning the Award will benefit our business going forward
The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are known for being the most respected business awards out there – the top accolade for any UK business. They are only given to companies who are outstanding in their field. We are confident that this royal endorsement will help us increase our impact worldwide as we look to expand internationally.
While industry awards celebrate excellence in a sector, the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise go far beyond that. They also praise good company values, employee relations and recognise contributions made to the community. We hope that this award will help us attract and retain high calibre team members. We are proud to have the opportunity to display the emblem in connection with our business.
Any advice you have for future Queen’s Award applicants?
Allow plenty of time to fill in the application. It requires a lot of detail and we found it a challenge to fit everything in concisely within the permitted word count. We would encourage any company to apply – big or small. We are a very small team (fewer than 10 employees when we applied) which goes to show that you don’t need to be a large corporate entity to receive a Queen’s Award. If you are thinking about applying, just go for it! It is one of the best decisions we have made as a business.
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