About Us | Maths | Reach Education

I guess I’ve always been a bit of a math nerd.

I have very specific memories from a young age of helping my dollies (and some sort of she-alien) solve mathematical problems. My “class” often came up short of the correct answer, but together we figured it out, well, to my satisfaction anyway. I have three (much) older siblings and I also remember being very disheartened (at age 8) that I couldn’t understand my sister’s Sixth Form (Year 12) algebra. A passion (built out of sibling competitiveness) was born!

Anyhoo, I got it eventually (the algebra) and I went on to complete a PhD in psychology (specifically cognitive neuroscience - ‘brain stuff’) where I was engaged in Master’s level statistics. I LOVE statistics. It’s so safe. Full of facts. No fluffy stuff. It’s either significant, or it’s not. Full stop and get on with it. And graphs, ahhh graphs. Beautiful, simplistic representations of data. All that information captured in one glance of the eye. I could look at graphs all day. In fact, I tried to get a job in Police Intelligence once where that was the job. Didn’t happen, but teaching sure did, oodles of it, as it continues to do so today.

At some point along the way I became a parent, and yes, my world was rocked, hard. For one, I couldn’t think straight anymore(!), but, at the same time, the most fabulous little beings started to draw my attention toward their needs and I was off on the pursuit of providing the greatest good for them that I could. Apart from a few trips to the hospital, a bit of love here and there, and meeting some basic needs, this centred mostly on education (and answering those ENDLESS questions. Thank you, Google).

I guess I’ve always been a bit of a math nerd.

I have very specific memories from a young age of helping my dollies (and some sort of she-alien) solve mathematical problems. My “class” often came up short of the correct answer, but together we figured it out, well, to my satisfaction anyway. I have three (much) older siblings and I also remember being very disheartened (at age 8) that I couldn’t understand my sister’s Sixth Form (Year 12) algebra. A passion (built out of sibling competitiveness) was born!

Anyhoo, I got it eventually (the algebra) and I went on to complete a PhD in psychology (specifically cognitive neuroscience - ‘brain stuff’) where I was engaged in Master’s level statistics. I LOVE statistics. It’s so safe. Full of facts. No fluffy stuff. It’s either significant, or it’s not. Full stop and get on with it. And graphs, ahhh graphs. Beautiful, simplistic representations of data. All that information captured in one glance of the eye. I could look at graphs all day. In fact, I tried to get a job in Police Intelligence once where that was the job. Didn’t happen, but teaching sure did, oodles of it, as it continues to do so today.

At some point along the way I became a parent, and yes, my world was rocked, hard. For one, I couldn’t think straight anymore(!), but, at the same time, the most fabulous little beings started to draw my attention toward their needs and I was off on the pursuit of providing the greatest good for them that I could. Apart from a few trips to the hospital, a bit of love here and there, and meeting some basic needs, this centred mostly on education (and answering those ENDLESS questions. Thank you, Google).

I guess I’ve always been a bit of a math nerd.

I have very specific memories from a young age of helping my dollies (and some sort of she-alien) solve mathematical problems. My “class” often came up short of the correct answer, but together we figured it out, well, to my satisfaction anyway. I have three (much) older siblings and I also remember being very disheartened (at age 8) that I couldn’t understand my sister’s Sixth Form (Year 12) algebra. A passion (built out of sibling competitiveness) was born!

Anyhoo, I got it eventually (the algebra) and I went on to complete a PhD in psychology (specifically cognitive neuroscience - ‘brain stuff’) where I was engaged in Master’s level statistics. I LOVE statistics. It’s so safe. Full of facts. No fluffy stuff. It’s either significant, or it’s not. Full stop and get on with it. And graphs, ahhh graphs. Beautiful, simplistic representations of data. All that information captured in one glance of the eye. I could look at graphs all day. In fact, I tried to get a job in Police Intelligence once where that was the job. Didn’t happen, but teaching sure did, oodles of it, as it continues to do so today.

At some point along the way I became a parent, and yes, my world was rocked, hard. For one, I couldn’t think straight anymore(!), but, at the same time, the most fabulous little beings started to draw my attention toward their needs and I was off on the pursuit of providing the greatest good for them that I could. Apart from a few trips to the hospital, a bit of love here and there, and meeting some basic needs, this centred mostly on education (and answering those ENDLESS questions. Thank you, Google).

Helping parents help their children with maths

About Reach

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Lucy Patston Reach Education

Lucy Patston, BA/BSc(Hons), PhD

Lucy@reacheducation.co.nz

My name is Lucy Patston. I'm the Founding Director of Reach Education and the author of the Reaching Competence Mathematics Programme. I'm a mother to three inquisitive, primary-aged children (and a dog), and I contract as an academic advisor to Masters students.

As a parent of emerging school children, I realised how differently my children were being taught maths to the way I was taught (30 years ago - gulp). I had no idea of these “mental strategies” they were jabbering on about! So my colleagues and I embarked on a project to bring the maths curriculum to life for kids and their caregivers.

I worked with talented maths specialist teachers to replicate the NZ maths curriculum in a series of books that sit alongside classroom teaching and complement your child's learning at school. The books encourage a love for the consistency and logic of maths, are fun and colourful, and have true-to-life problems containing developed characters in believable, real-life scenarios.

We can do better for our kids by understanding the concepts and strategies they are learning in the classroom. To this end, the books carefully explain the mathematics curriculum, the different strategies for calculating equations, and all the terminology parents need to know to effectively help their children with maths at home. Each curriculum stage is broken into learning intentions so you can pick up on specific skills your child has either missed at school or is struggling with.

For more about me and the inspiration behind the programme, please see My Story.

Lucy