On a slightly damp December day, the Department for Education (DfE) joined the Surrey County Council (SCC) Multiply team at a local community garden. The aim was to see Multiply ‘in action’ and hear about its impact directly from the learners.
Multiply is a range of free, flexible courses (funded by government) developed to help adults improve their number skills and build their number confidence. Surrey’s Multiply providers have taken a creative and flexible approach in delivering courses that adapt to meet learners’ needs and the DfE were keen to see this in action.
Creative delivery, flexing to meet learners’ needs
The visit took place at Surrey Care Trust’s Gateway Community Garden in Reigate. Course leaders here are embedding maths skills into various garden projects. This means that students learn and apply maths and numeracy skills while they calculate lengths, areas, volumes etc, to build raised beds, create ponds and grow small crops.
This was the second time the SCC Multiply team has visited the project at the Gateway garden. The first visit took place in early spring 2024 and was captured on video (watch it below). This time the team were delighted to see how much progress had been made, both in terms of the garden projects and the learners’ individual achievements.
One participant, Nick, who has been attending for several months, noted: “It’s helped me a lot with everyday life, also with job seeking, numeracy skills, maths skills, soft skills like working in teams with people. It’s generally everything you’d need to get into a job nowadays.”
Multiply is available free of charge to both residents and businesses in Surrey, until the end of March 2025. Thereโs a huge range of Multiply courses available, with something to suit everyone. Businesses can also benefit from bespoke programs designed to suit the needs of their workforce.
Find out more
You can see the full list of available courses on the Multiply website.
If youโd like to find out more about arranging bespoke courses for your organisation, email multiply.info@surreycc.gov.uk.
