HOW MANY times can a child climb the same stairs before learning their tables?

That’s the question being asked by Worth Valley Primary School after transforming their stairs into teaching tools.

Multiplication tables are being painted onto all the stairs in the school so that pupils will see them every time they go up and down.

School maths leader Susan said Worth Valley was the first primary school in the Airedale cluster to adopt the method, which has been copied from American schools.

She said the easier times tables were being painted on stairs near the younger classes, and would get harder as children progressed through the school.

She said: “Young children have to know their tables off by heart. The idea is that if they continue seeing them they will gradually learn them.

“They’re really enjoying it. The younger children are saying their times tables as they go up the stairs. One or two have tried to learn them as they go down, but that’s a bit risky!”