Local children inspire the makers of Times Tables Rock Stars

The game already featured hearing aids but several children, who wear the implants themselves, queried why they weren’t an option for their avatars.

Kirsten Binns, Teacher of the deaf, Broadwood Primary School said “When the children queried that the implants were missing from the game, I said I would contact the company to ask why. I never expected a response, but they asked the children to show how it would work, which they did, and they added them straight away.”

Gill Kyle, Inclusion and Diversity Specialist from Maths Circle, the creators of the game, said: "We aim to be proactive in our approach to getting our platforms just right for all our users but sometimes we miss an opportunity.

We are all different so it's important that our users can create their own unique avatars and our creative team work hard to ensure that we do this successfully.

Adding cochlear implants to some of our avatar's heads posed a design challenge - so many of them wear headgear that we weren't sure how to make the implant visible - a problem we presented back to Broadwood.

Undeterred, Ms Binns set Broadwood pupils a challenge: to provide us with some awesome designs showing the perfect placement of a cochlear implant.

She sent us the pupils’ cochlear implant designs and our crack illustrator turned their sketches into a reality. Our users can now freely equip the implant in the avatar store all thanks to the wonderful pupils and Ms Binns at Broadwood. We always welcome ideas and input from our schools so we invite readers to get in touch to tell us how they wish their avatar to represent them."

Cllr Sylvia Copley, Cabinet Member for a Growing City, Newcastle City Council said:

“This is a fantastic example of how our children and young people can influence the services they use to aid their development. If it wasn’t for the creativity of these children cochlear implants wouldn’t be featured in the game today. I would like to thank Maths Circle for their approach in making this learning tool inclusive for all children in Newcastle and beyond.”