Great Whelnetham School and White Rose Maths
At Great Whelnetham Primary School, we believe that Maths should be fun, clear and challenging. We aim for every child to move on from our school with a love of Maths and a deep grounding in the basics needed to progress and succeed.
The way we teach has two clear parts:
- The White Rose Scheme of Work
- Our School Calculation Policy
What is White Rose Maths?
White Rose Maths is an organisation that provides Maths resources and Schemes of Learning for pupils of all ages, from early years to secondary school. The resources that are aligned with the White Rose Maths frameworks are designed to be enjoyable, engaging and varied, to help pupils develop a love of learning and work towards mastery, with differentiated resources.
But what defines White Rose Maths more than their resources and frameworks is their approach to teaching Maths. At the heart of the approach is the motto “Everyone Can Do Maths: Everyone Can!” — a slogan that we wholeheartedly agree with!
Their mission is to support primary school teachers and parents all over the UK in helping children work towards maths mastery and change attitudes towards this subject, encouraging a growth mindset in both teachers and learners. Adopting a White Rose Maths approach to teaching means making sure all children have the same opportunities to learn and the support they need to fully grasp concepts.
The philosophy behind White Rose Maths also focuses on making maths fun for children and helping them to find enjoyment in number problems and explaining their mathematical thinking. Because when children are engaged in learning and enjoying maths, that's when lessons really sink in and deep learning happens.
Why White Rose?
The reasons we chose the White Rose Maths Primary Scheme of Learning can be summarised by the following points:
- White Rose uses the CPA (Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract) approach, which is a highly effective approach to teaching that develops a deep and sustainable understanding of maths in pupils. CPA was developed by American psychologist Jerome Bruner. It is an essential technique within the Singapore method of teaching maths for mastery.
- There is a great emphasis on mathematical language, questioning, explaining, reasoning and problem solving. This allows pupils to discuss the mathematics they are doing, support each other to take ideas further, and develop a broad and secure understanding.
- It provides a connected, progressive curriculum, aiding the development of carefully sequenced lessons (see more below on progression within the scheme).
- It develops the skills of teachers, without interfering with professional judgement by being over prescriptive.
- The curriculum is designed to use skills that have already been learnt in different contexts whenever possible. This helps pupils to remember and to make connections between different parts of the curriculum.
- It follows many of the mastery principles – spending longer on topics to help gain deeper understanding, making connections, keeping the class working together on the same topic and a fundamental belief that, through effort, all pupils are capable of understanding, doing and improving at mathematics.
- It also recognises that just spending a good chunk of time on a topic doesn’t mean that all pupils will ‘master’ it the first time they see it, and that they need to see it again and again in different contexts and in different years to help them truly develop their understanding on their journey to mastery. At Great Whelnetham we have developed this by including Maths Meetings in our daily timetable – a separate short session to re-visit and consolidate learning in other areas to that taught in the main lesson.
- It is a curriculum that is ambitious and that works for all, with everybody studying the same topic and being provided with support and challenge as needed. Many of the teaching strategies we advocate for all pupils are particularly useful for pupils with SEND.
The impact White Rose will have on our children
- Children will understand how to use resources to support their learning
- Provides consistent methods across the school for your child to access
- It will challenge them to grow as mathematicians
- Supports children in the lead up to their SATs
- Children will be able to articulate their ideas clearly and represent their working in a range of ways
- It will help your children to become confident mathematicians and enjoy maths
Using White Rose at home
White Rose Maths have teamed up with TV presenter, teacher and parent Michael Underwood to bring you a mini-series called Maths with Michael. We understand that many parents feel like maths has changed and can sometimes find it difficult to keep up to date with modern teaching methods in maths.
Follow the link below to find out more about White Rose Maths and the way it is taught:
https://whiterosemaths.com/maths-with-michael
For teaching videos to compliment your child’s learning, go to:
https://whiterosemaths/homelearning