PDC superstar Stephen Bunting helped to officially open a new darts room launched at the Blessed Carlo Acutis Academy in Runcorn, as part of a special session of Bullseye Maths on Wednesday. The new facility has been created at the Cheshire school this year and proven hugely popular with students, who now play darts during […]
PDC superstar Stephen Bunting helped to officially open a new darts room launched at the Blessed Carlo Acutis Academy in Runcorn, as part of a special session of Bullseye Maths on Wednesday.
The new facility has been created at the Cheshire school this year and proven hugely popular with students, who now play darts during lunchtimes and after school.
The darts room was introduced by the school’s Head of Maths and Head of Year 11, Mr Clifford, while students have helped to paint the walls and make oches from wood during the space’s renovation.
Ahead of his appearance in Thursday’s BetMGM Premier League event at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, world number nine Bunting visited Blessed Carlo Acutis School and stepped up to the oche with students.
The visit was marked with two sessions of Bullseye Maths, in association with Vanquis Bank, as students took part in fun numeracy-based activities whilst throwing darts.
The sessions were led by the JDC’s Education Team, and saw students with darts experience marking each other completing the JDC Scoring Challenge, while newcomers to the sport enjoyed a more traditional Bullseye Maths session featuring maths-based activities.
“We noticed the buzz around the school in January following the World Championship and when the idea of creating a darts room was put to students, we had an overwhelmingly positive response,” said Headteacher Miss Freeman.
“It was great to involve them in creating the darts room and we’ve seen such an impact in the short time that the facility has been open.
“Many of our students might not otherwise have the chance to play darts outside of school, so for them to have a darts room available like this is really important.
“Darts is a sport in which maths is just as vital as the physical part of the game, and our students are continually testing their counting whilst playing.
“Seeing a local player like Luke Littler become World Champion has been an inspiration to so many students, and for them to get the chance to meet Stephen Bunting was wonderful. We wish him all the best in the Premier League on Thursday – he’s got plenty of new fans from the school cheering him on!”
Premier League star Bunting added: “It’s amazing to see and it’s a brilliant idea.
“We never had facilities like this when I was at school but it’s great to see an environment like this for the kids to get into darts at a young age.
“Darts is booming and going from strength to strength, not just in the PDC but in communities too where so many people are getting into the sport now.”
The visit was the latest session of Bullseye Maths, in association with Vanquis, which promotes numeracy across all ages as part of the PDC in the Community scheme.
“Through Bullseye Maths we are trying to grow number confidence across people of all ages and encourage interaction with numeracy,” said Gary Horsley, the JDC Director of Education & Community Projects.
“We’re seeing schools around the UK introducing darts rooms now as a place not only for their students to relax and learn a competitive sport but also to promote the maths benefits which darts can offer.
“This was Bullseye Maths’ first visit to a high school and it was great to be able to challenge the maths skills of some existing players whilst also introducing some students to the numeracy involved in the sport.”
Bullseye Maths was launched in 2022 and won the Bronze award at the 2023 Sports Business Awards for “Best Sports Community or CSR Scheme, while Vanquis’ partnership with National Numeracy has seen the scheme support National Numeracy Day and Numeracy Awareness Week in recent years.
For more details about Bullseye Maths, please visit www.pdc.tv/maths.