Award-winning census resources for schools are now live

A range of fun and engaging teaching resources are now live as part of this year’s award-winning Let’s Count! campaign for primary schools.

Together with education resource centre, iChild, the Office for National Statistics has once again created content which will bring census data to life in the classroom.

Since the programme launched in January this year, over 1,200 schools across England and Wales have already registered, with more than 250,000 children set to take part.

For instant access to the new resources, schools can simply register for this year’s programme at https://letscount.ichild.co.uk

Resources include five new easy-to-use lessons which take children on a journey from collecting the data through to analysing and publishing the findings.

Each lesson is available in English and Welsh and is suitable for both classroom and remote learning. There will also be a video lesson for participating schools delivered by ONS experts.

Pete Benton, Deputy National Statistician for Health, Population and Methods at the ONS, said: “With the Census 2021 results due out this summer what better time to inspire young minds about the census and statistics? It’s great to see so many schools signing up to our popular Let’s Count! educational programme. Through these fantastic resources pupils will gain an understanding of the importance of the census and how we turn the information we collect into statistics which will help them, their school and their local area.”

Phil Bird, CEO of Family & Education/iChild said: “We are thrilled to launch these new lessons with ONS for Let’s Count! 2022. The free resources use Census 2021, a significant real-life event, as a stimulus and can be personalised to a school’s local area. Children can learn about the importance of the census and how it supports local services.

The programme supports numeracy, history, geography and writing skills, and follows on from the 14 lessons developed for Let’s Count! 2021 which are all still available. Over 1,200 schools are already taking part and we encourage other primary schools to register today!”

St Alban’s CE Primary School in Havant (Hampshire) was named Overall Winner in last year’s Let’s Count! competition for schools. Deputy Head, Sharon James, said: “We are really looking forward to taking part in Let’s Count! again this year, in the build-up to the population announcement. We took part last year in the Let’s Count census activity and it reminded our school that no matter how small the numbers, every ‘ONE’ can and should make a difference. It showed us that our individual actions added together have the power to impact positively on the lives of others. It inspired us to keep ensuring that data makes a difference!”

St. Giles Catholic Primary School in Stoke-on-Trent also took part in Let’s Count! 2021. Kate Haines, Maths Lead, said: “The children found the whole census process fascinating last year. They loved the idea that maths and census data could have a real impact on their own local area and their own everyday lives. They really enjoyed using the lesson resources provided and the counter cats were very popular across all year groups! We are very excited about taking part again this year.”

Alongside the lessons, schools are encouraged to hold their own Let’s Count! day in the build up to the first Census 2021 results, where children can count things and collect data on any cause or subject that matters to them or their school. Census 2021 was a huge success with 97% of households across England and Wales taking part.

Register here: https://letscount.ichild.co.uk/