Scotland set to go wild for Maths Week 2025

Press images are available here.

Funded by the Scottish Government and coordinated by National Museums Scotland, the initiative is now in its ninth year. Maths Week Scotland 2025 features over 75 events for schools and families across Scotland and almost 20 online webinars and competitions, all aimed at turning Scotland into a maths-positive nation. There are also over 20 self-led maths trails in museums and heritage sites across the country, many of which are available all year round. 

Highlights from this year’s Maths Week Scotland line-up include Eigg and Muck Primary Schools’ partnership with the Scottish Wildlife Trust to study bird migration and weather data across the islands. Almond Valley Heritage Trust is hosting a hands-on outdoor maths programme encouraging families to take on fun challenges, solve puzzles, and uncover the hidden numbers in nature’s growing cycles. School pupils can take part in the Trust’s Sow Wild, Grow Wild, Go Wild challenge which uses a potting shed, an allotment and woodlands to apply real-world maths to growing, observing and building with nature. 

Digital Skills Education is expected to reach thousands of pupils through its Defend the Rhino with Maths and AI event, an interactive online experience where young people will see how data and machine learning can be used to tackle wildlife poaching. The University of Dundee’s Leverhulme Research Centre will challenge 150 S1 and S2 pupils to solve the case of a missing bird of prey in Operation Raptor Rescue which applies maths to tracking, biology and criminology. 

At the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, children’s author, David McPhail will host Legends, Myths and Maths, a fun-filled, interactive talk for families exploring the myths, stories, wildlife and landscapes of Scotland, with hidden maths. Museum on the Move school sessions at the National Museum of Scotland, the National Museum of Rural Life and the National Museum of Flight will teach pupils about the planning, weighing, measuring and teamwork involved in moving museum objects. For under 5s, the National Museum of Rural Life is hosting a maths-themed Tractors Tots taster session, and National Museum of Scotland is running Wild Maths for Wee Ones. 

This year’s Maths Week Scotland programme includes partnerships with conservation organisations including the Scottish Wildlife Trust, the RSPB, the Scottish Seabird Centre and the Marine Conservation Society, and features events in schools, museums and libraries as well as activities aimed at home learners. 

In addition to the events in September, Maths Week Scotland also runs a supporting, year-round programme for schools, families, adults and community groups to encourage enthusiasm for maths across the country. 

Cabinet Secretary for Education, Jenny Gilruth said:

“This Maths Week I am pleased to see there is so much opportunity for families, schools and the wider community to have fun with maths.

Ensuring that all our young people have the confidence, knowledge and skills to use maths in real life contexts remains a core part of our on-going work to update school curriculum.

I’d encourage all young people to enjoy the activities on offer, use their learning from the classroom and see how much maths impacts on all our lives.”

Holly Rumble, Maths Week Scotland coordinator at National Museums Scotland said;  

“The Wild Maths theme of this year’s Maths Week Scotland programme illustrates that maths is all around us, not just in the classroom. Organisations from the Borders to the Highlands have developed an engaging set of events that we hope will encourage people of all ages to approach maths in new and exciting ways, from spotting patterns in bird migration on our islands to hunting for natural shapes in our local parks. School pupils will also have the opportunity to see how maths can be used to address a number of global conservation issues. It’s an inspiring line-up and we’re greatly looking forward to this year’s event.”  

Maths Week Scotland programme information is available at www.mathsweekscot