THROUGHOUT the year, the NSPCC is working with fundraisers to ensure we can continue to be there for children and young people whenever they need us.

Our fundraising events could be anything from a street collection to a sponsored marathon, a skydive to a bake sale.

One of our annual events is aimed at schools, not just to raise funds for the NSPCC but also to encourage more children to engage with and enjoy maths. Number Day is aimed at children in nurseries, primary and secondary schools and sees teachers and pupils raise money for the NSPCC, which relies on donations for around 90per cent of its funding, while having fun with maths.

This year’s event is on Friday, February 3, and sees free curriculum-based downloadable activities available to schools. We’ve got support from veteran children’s TV presenter and maths enthusiast Johnny Ball this year - he may not be familiar to children, but it’s a fair bet parents will recognise him from the TV of their youth.

Johnny told us Number Day is “a great way for all children and schools to celebrate the joy of learning mathematics while supporting a great cause”. Part of the fun is that it includes activities on the NSPCC website for schools who sign up, including ‘Dress up for Digits’ and games.

Since Number Day was launched in 2000, it has raised nearly £3 million for the NSPCC. Last year, 5,000 schools got involved, raising £400,000, and we’re looking for even more schools to take part this year.

Funds raised from Number Day could help support NSPCC services such as Childline and Speak Out Stay Safe, in which we visit primary schools and teach children how to recognise signs of abuse and neglect, and who to talk to if they’re worried. Within the last year, 33,610 children from 130 schools in West Yorkshire took part in Speak Out Stay Safe. We’re aiming to reach every child in every school in the region - and we need help. Our school’s area co-ordinators are seeking volunteers to help deliver Speak Out Stay Safe workshops. If you have experience of delivering programmes in an educational or safeguarding setting, if you’ve got strong planning and organisational abilities, good communication and people skills we’d love to hear from you.

Speak Out Stay Safe links directly to the curriculum and helps share messages in an age-appropriate way to pupils as part of a school’s teaching on healthy relationships. We’d love to hear from anyone with a few hours a month spare. Email volunteerrecruitment@nspcc.org.uk

To find out more about Number Day, go nspcc.org.uk