Our White Rose journey: from reaching out to Champion School status

As a team of three maths leads from three Island of Jersey Primary Schools, we’ve spent the last few years on a rewarding and transformative journey with White Rose Maths—one that has reshaped not only our approach to teaching mathematics but also the confidence, fluency, and enthusiasm of our learners and our teachers.

A few years ago, our schools recognised that our existing scheme was no longer meeting the needs of our pupils. While it offered structure, it didn’t allow for teacher flexibility, it didn’t fully nurture mathematical fluency or provide the depth of understanding required to engage every learner, from those who found maths challenging to those ready for deeper reasoning.

How we chose White Rose Education

Our first step was to explore alternatives that aligned with our vision for maths. White Rose Maths stood out immediately—not only for its clear structure and emphasis on reasoning and problem-solving, but also for its belief that every child can succeed in mathematics. However, adopting a new scheme was just the beginning; we wanted to ensure our implementation reflected deep pedagogical understanding rather than a simple switch of resources.

"White Rose Maths stood out immediately—not only for its clear structure and emphasis on reasoning and problem-solving, but also for its belief that every child can succeed in mathematics."

We reached out to James Cheater at White Rose Maths for guidance. His response was generous and encouraging. He facilitated several visits for us to schools near their headquarters in Halifax, providing first-hand insight into what high-quality White Rose teaching can look like in practice.

These visits didn’t just inspire us—they helped us establish our Mathematical Non-Negotiables, the principles that now underpin our maths teaching across the school. We refined our lesson structures, tightened our use of mathematical vocabulary, and placed a greater emphasis on concrete and pictorial representations to secure conceptual understanding before moving to abstract thinking.

During these visits, we developed a shared pedagogical approach grounded in exploration, fluency practise and problem solving. Returning to our own schools, we delivered joint training sessions for staff, modelling effective strategies and lesson design. This collaborative process ensured consistent practice and collective confidence across our settings from the very start.

At this stage, White Rose continued to play a crucial role in helping us shape our personalised CPA approach. With James’ guidance, we explored how the use of concrete, pictorial, and abstract representations could be embedded consistently across all year groups, ensuring progression and depth. Together, we reviewed the manipulatives we used, discussed how to make them purposeful rather than tokenistic, and developed staff confidence in knowing when and how to move pupils between stages.

The next stage in our journey was to invite James to visit our schools and review our progress. His feedback was both affirming and challenging, highlighting areas of real strength while identifying key next steps to deepen our practice further. Working alongside James helped us move forwards, focusing on consistency across classrooms and fine-tuning our episodic approach. His visit also reinforced the importance of professional collaboration and ongoing reflection.

Since that visit, our commitment to continual improvement has only strengthened. Teachers have become more confident in adapting lessons to meet the needs of their pupils while adhering to our mathematical non-negotiables. Our pupils now demonstrate stronger fluency, greater flexibility in their thinking, and, perhaps most importantly, a genuine enjoyment of maths.

Becoming a Champion School

We were delighted that all three of our schools were recognised as White Rose Champion Schools, a reflection of the progress we have made and the culture that has developed across our maths teaching. This recognition has opened exciting opportunities for collaboration beyond our own setting. Schools across the island have since reached out to us, seeking advice and support as they begin or refine their own maths journeys.

Looking back, our journey with White Rose Maths has been so much more than the adoption of a scheme—it has been a process of professional growth, shared reflection, and deep pedagogical change. We are proud of what our pupils now achieve and even prouder of the collaborative spirit that has defined this journey from the start.

As we look ahead, we remain committed to continuous development, ensuring that every child continues to build a secure, connected, and confident understanding of mathematics. Our partnership with White Rose Maths has given us the tools and the vision to make that happen—and we’re excited to see where the next steps of this journey will take us.