The world’s most popular football freestylers are helping children ‘keepie uppie’ with their education

F2 stars Jeremy Lynch and Billy Wingrove, who have more than 12 million YouTube subscribers, will be using their unique tricks to boost numeracy and physical activity for 5 to 11-year-old kids who can’t attend class. The daily videos, which start on Monday, use the universal language of football to provide some light relief to homelife during temporary school closures, while enhancing children’s key number skills. The Santander UK ambassadors have partnered with Twinkl to host The Numbers Game, with the learning resources designed to be in line with UK curriculums. To launch the free series, Jeremy and Billy showed off their dazzling football skills while adhering to the government’s guidelines on social distancing. Jeremy said: “We’re excited to be a part of this campaign with Santander and Twinkl. “Being active is so important for our health and using football to keep moving whilst building maths skills is a great way to combine learning with the beautiful game. “We hope children will be inspired to pick up a ball, stay fit and keep their number skills on top form." The numbers game The Numbers Game platform was developed by Santander last year as a nationwide, educational, football-themed roadshow aimed at helping people to enjoy and feel more comfortable working with numbers. Running from May 18 to May 22 and continuing from June 1 to June 5, the latest campaign is underpinned by evidence published in BMC Medicine that suggests using breaks to do ‘self-paced’ physical activity may improve children’s wellbeing and cognitive performance when compared with children who were not active during breaks. Each week of challenges will focus on a different theme - the first two weeks of which are times tables and time, the two most searched maths themes on Twinkl’s website. A special challenge will be set at the end of each week where participants will be awarded certificates. Susan Allen, CEO retail and business banking at Santander UK, said: “The Numbers Game, originally developed in conjunction with our charity partner National Numeracy as a roadshow, has been a real success since it launched last year, already helping tens of thousands of people build their confidence in maths through football. “We know how challenging the current environment is, particularly for parents, and are delighted to have been able to develop the initiative further with Twinkl to support children while at home, in both a fun and engaging way.” Jonathan Seaton, Co-founder and CEO of Twinkl, added: “This is a really exciting project that we hope will provide teachers, parents and carers with a new activity for home learning and excite and engage children. “The F2 Freestylers are incredibly talented and much admired and this combined with the expertise of Santander and the team at Twinkl makes it an ideal way to teach and learn maths skills whilst being active. "We are always looking for new ways to help those who teach and we are delighted to be working with Santander and the F2 Freestylers on this project.” Catch the game on youtube To support the Numbers Game campaign, the F2 Freestylers will also be hosting two live maths-themed football skills shows on YouTube. These will go live on May 18 and June 1 at 12 noon and The F2 Freestylers will also be supporting the campaign with Instagram, Twitter and TikTok posts. The Numbers Game on Twinkl will go live on Monday here - https://www.twinkl.co.uk/the-numbers-game